Swiss government set on reduction of licence fee to CHF300

By lowering the radio and television licence fee, minister Albert Rösti wants to take the wind out of the sails of an even more drastic initiative to reduce it to CHF200. Keystone / Anthony Anex

The Federal Council wants to reduce the radio and TV licence fee from CHF335 to CHF300 ($379 to $339) for private households starting in 2029 and to abolish the fee for small and medium-sized firms starting in 2027. This was decided on Wednesday – despite widespread criticism during a public consultation procedure.

Energy Minister Albert Rösti, who also holds the communications portfolio, is thus sticking to plans outlined in November 2023. By lowering the radio and TV licence fee, Rösti wants to prevent the “CHF200 is enough!” people’s initiative from gaining momentum. The initiative by right-wing Swiss People’s Party circles aims to reduce the fee to CHF200 and entirely exempt companies from it.

The government meanwhile rejected the CHF200 initiative. “The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) needs sufficient financial resources in order to provide an equivalent journalistic offering in all language regions,” it wrote on Wednesday. The negative consequences of the initiative for the SBC – which is also swissinfo.ch’s parent company – and its foothold in all Swiss linguistic regions would be too serious, ministers warned.

+ Read more: SBC expects major job cuts if licence fee slashed

However, the government also wants to ease the financial burden on households and companies. Firstly, it thus proposes gradually reducing the annual household fee from CHF335 to CHF312 starting in 2027, and to CHF300 in 2029. Second, around 80% of companies subject to VAT would be exempt from the charge starting in 2027 – while the limit for paying it would be increased from the current CHF500,000 annual turnover to CHF1.2 million.

The Federal Council’s dispatch will now go to parliament, which can decide for itself whether and – if so – how it wants to ease the financial burden on households and companies. An indirect counter-proposal at legislative level is conceivable, for example. In this way, the House of Representatives and Senate could override the government’s decision, especially as the gradual fee reduction it has decided on will not take effect until 2027.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/dos

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