Bakel Walden talks Swiss pubcaster SRG SSR’s upcoming licence fee vote

Today we hear from Bakel Walden, director of development at SRG SSR, about an upcoming referendum that could see the Swiss pubcaster’s funding slashed in half.

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The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) is bullish about an upcoming referendum that could see its funding slashed in half but is nevertheless bracing itself for cuts, according to director of development Bakel Walden.

The Swiss public broadcaster is set to vote in the next two years over the cost of the licence fee, which could see it cut from CHF335 (US$393) to CHF200, while corporations would also be made exempt from paying it.

Together with the impact on advertising revenue that producing fewer programmes would have, a negative referendum result for SRG SSR would result in a total shortfall of CHF760m – half of its CHF1.54bn annual budget.

Dubbed the ‘200 francs should be enough’ referendum, it comes after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected the opportunity to scrap the licence fee entirely in 2018, when 71% of the nearly three million voters opted against the abolition of radio and TV fees.

Walden, director of development and offering at SRG SSR, spoke to Nico Franks about why the pubcaster is “confident” the public will again vote in favour of retaining the licence fee.

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