Television in Switzerland was introduced in the 1940s, with regular broadcasts commencing in 1953. People who live in Switzerland are required by law to pay a television licence fee, which is used to finance the public radio and television service SRG SSR. Since 1 January 2021, the Licence fee cost in all the linguistic regions of Switzerland is 335 CHF per year or 83.75 CHF quarterly (with a 2 CHF fee if paid via LSV+, Debit Direct, or e-billing, and the invoice is sent via email), counting both radio and television licences. All licence fee payers are entitled under the law to services of equal quality. The fee is charged per household and not per person, with empty dwellings being exempt. The fee is determined by the Federal Council.
History
Early development (1920s-1950s) The foundations of television technology were established in the 1920s, building upon partially known 19th-century technologies. In 1925, Charles Francis Jenkins in the United States and John Logie Baird in England presented the first public television systems. By 1931, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offered the first regular television programmes. However, international development of the new medium was delayed until the 1940s due to competition between mechanical and electronic models, with the electronic system ultimately prevailing in the 1930s through the adoption of the cathode-ray tube and standardization of scanning lines. Switzerland's first encounter with television came at the Swiss National Exhibition of 1939, when ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) conducted the country's first television broadcast experiment using a 405-line transmission standard. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG), founded in 1931 and later renamed to include television in 1960, filmed a theatrical performance and transmitted it to a television screen. In 1943, Fritz Fischer presented a technique based on the eidophor, a projector that would long be used for large-screen visualizations. During the second half of the 1940s, both the PTT (Postal, Telephone and Telegraph services) and the SRG closely monitored television developments abroad and conducted joint experimental trials with ETH Zurich.
Regular broadcasting begins (1950s-1960s) Following the enactment of federal legislation to finance a Swiss television pilot enterprise, the SSR began systematic testing in Zürich in 1953, implementing a regular trial programme broadcast for one hour daily on weekdays. Additional tests were conducted in Basel and French-speaking Switzerland. Regular television service commenced in 1958, initially broadcasting in German and French, with Italian programming beginning in 1961. Studios were established from 1960 onwards in Zürich, Geneva, and Lugano, while Basel and Lausanne did not receive production facilities. The organizational structure closely linked television to radio through the SSR, despite opposition from some radio circles concerned about the future of their medium. This arrangement, consistent with European practices, reflected the intention to develop a public service based on radio broadcasting experience. As with radio, all technical aspects were entrusted to the PTT. Only since the adoption of the new 1988 concession has the SRG been required to procure its own studio equipment, while Swisscom (successor to the PTT) provides and maintains transmitting stations and connections, and collects reception fees through Billag and later Serafe AG (from 2019). While the pilot testing phase counted only 920 subscribers, predominantly café and restaurant owners, the number had reached 50,000 by 1959. The milestone of one million households was surpassed in 1968, coinciding with the introduction of colour television. Télévision suisse romande broadcast their first evening programme in colour in 1968. Romansh-speaking Swiss had to wait until 1963 for the first programme in their language, a full decade after regular television transmission were initiated. To this day, there is no dedicated Romansh-language channel; instead the German and Italian channels air a few hours of Romansh programming per day.
International cooperation and Eurovision Swiss television's relations with foreign stations were founded on cooperation from the outset, driven by the small size of the Swiss market and its linguistic fragmentation, leading to co-production contracts and broadcasting agreements with neighbouring countries. The SRG played a dominant role in creating Eurovision, the international programme exchange network. In 1947, Marcel Bezençon launched the idea of an international television programme exchange, and in 1954, coverage of the Narcissus Festival in Montreux was broadcast in England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Italy. The 1954 FIFA World Cup, held in Switzerland the same year, also contributed to the success of international transmissions. The first intercontinental satellite exchange via Telstar occurred in 1962.
Advertising and regulatory framework The conflict between television and publishers and advertisers, who feared competition from the new medium particularly in the advertising market, was resolved in 1957. According to the signed agreement, the SRG received two million francs annually for up to ten years, or until reaching 180,000 subscribers, as a contribution to its development, while renouncing advertising revenue. Television advertising was authorized in 1965, initially limited to twelve minutes daily and remaining prohibited on Sundays and holidays, as well as programme interruptions, until 1992. A constitutional article on radio and television was introduced in 1984, serving as the basis for regulation. Apart from some local experiments in the early 1970s, the SRG long maintained a de facto monopoly as a television programme provider.
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