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Swiss here: Pretty certain this is part of a pressure campaign by the SRF ("Swiss Radio and Television"). They are facing budget cuts nationally through an init

by jcfrei 2y ago

Swiss here: Pretty certain this is part of a pressure campaign by the SRF ("Swiss Radio and Television"). They are facing budget cuts nationally through an initiative that will be voted on probably later this year (https://srg-initiative.ch/ https://srg-initiative.ch/). By preemptively cutting services on their own (that they are not forced to under the text of the initiative) they probably hope to sway voter's opinion.

chinathrow 2y ago
Cutting service costs on their own while burdening the cost to their listeners is so backwards. My car radio can't do DAB and it would cost me quite a bit of money to install a replacement radio if I want a proper setup (i.e. as before in terms of usability/integration).
- michaelt 2y ago
  Some politicians in my country have worked out that when someone tries to force them to spend less, they can cut funding to something popular like libraries, immediately get a bunch of complaints and protests, then declare "Well we tried, it seems voters don't want us to spend less after all"
  - anamax 2y ago
    You fire them by pointing out what they kept vs. what they dropped.
  - Seattle3503 2y ago
    In the US it is called Washington Monument syndrome.
    - Rinzler89 2y ago
      Being a non-USAn, can you provide the background story for that? Sounds interesting.
      - opo 2y ago
        >...The Washington Monument syndrome,[1] also known as the Mount Rushmore syndrome[2] or the firemen first principle,[3][4] is a term used to describe the phenomenon of government agencies in the United States cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government when faced with budget cuts. It has been used in reference to cuts in popular services such as national parks and libraries[2] or to valued public employees such as teachers and firefighters,[3] with the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore being two of the most visible landmarks maintained by the National Park Service.[1] >...The term was first used after George Hartzog, the seventh director of the National Park Service, closed popular national parks such as the Washington Monument and Grand Canyon National Park for two days a week in 1969. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_syndrome#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Monument%20syndrome%2C%20also,when%20faced%20with%20budget%20cuts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_syndrome#:....
  - cranky908canuck 2y ago
    In Canada, it's the "Musical Ride" process.
- Youden 2y ago
  Technically, if you don't have a device capable of receiving their broadcasts, you can get an exemption from the fee. Unfortunately a single computer or TV is enough to incur the obligation.
  - avidiax 2y ago
    I think you're thinking of the BBC. Serafe will only let you waive the fee if everyone in your household is both deaf and blind, or you are on certain social benefits (can't afford it), or you are a diplomat. Everyone else has to pay CHF335/year, and good luck getting a partial refund if you leave the country (we didn't). https://www.serafe.ch/en/exemption-from-the-fee/basic-principle/ https://www.serafe.ch/en/exemption-from-the-fee/basic-princi...
    - Rinzler89 2y ago
      >Everyone else has to pay CHF335/year, and good luck getting a partial refund if you leave the country (we didn't). Not Swiss here(it's the same kind of tax in Austria), and I hate useless taxes that incompetent governments shove down our throats, but I support the idea of citizens having an independent, impartial and transparent publicly funded media, and unfortunately that costs money to fund and maintain either through direct or indirect taxes, but either way you'll still be paying for it one way or another from the state budget. We can't have a functioning democracy expecting citizens to make informed decisions on important things like Brexit, when their only sources of information are controlled by big-ad-tech like Meta or Google and Warren Buffet. The only question remaining is the traditional "who watches the watchmen", as in what assurance do we have that the publicly funded media is truly unbiased and independent and not paddling its own biases and political agendas.
      - ekianjo 2y ago
        > the idea of citizens having an independent, impartial and transparent publicly funded media, if its controlled by the state by definition it cant be neutral.
tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago
I wonder how often such attempts backfire ("well, they're going to cut what is useful for me anyways, so why should I vote to give them any money?").
conradfr 2y ago
Can there be an initiative to force them to keep FM?
nar001 2y ago
Funny how it's always the SVP trying to cut the SRG funds, after their first initiative to completely abolish the tax failed.
- mschuster91 2y ago
  Attacking public broadcasters is a pretty standard playbook of the far-right and even Conservatives - the latter in Germany for example killed off fibre buildout under Kohl in favor of cable TV/radio because they wanted private broadcasters as competition against a "too left" public TV [1]. The consequences of that decision haunt us to this day, with many households still getting internet access via decades-old twisted pair phone lines. [1] https://netzpolitik.org/2018/danke-helmut-kohl-kabelfernsehen-statt-glasfaserausbau/ https://netzpolitik.org/2018/danke-helmut-kohl-kabelfernsehe...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

by jcfrei 2y ago

chinathrow 2y ago

Cutting service costs on their own while burdening the cost to their listeners is so backwards. My car radio can't do DAB and it would cost me quite a bit of money to install a replacement radio if I want a proper setup (i.e. as before in terms of usability/integration).

michaelt 2y ago
Some politicians in my country have worked out that when someone tries to force them to spend less, they can cut funding to something popular like libraries, immediately get a bunch of complaints and protests, then declare "Well we tried, it seems voters don't want us to spend less after all"
- anamax 2y ago
  You fire them by pointing out what they kept vs. what they dropped.
- Seattle3503 2y ago
  In the US it is called Washington Monument syndrome.
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    Being a non-USAn, can you provide the background story for that? Sounds interesting.
    - opo 2y ago
      >...The Washington Monument syndrome,[1] also known as the Mount Rushmore syndrome[2] or the firemen first principle,[3][4] is a term used to describe the phenomenon of government agencies in the United States cutting the most visible or appreciated service provided by the government when faced with budget cuts. It has been used in reference to cuts in popular services such as national parks and libraries[2] or to valued public employees such as teachers and firefighters,[3] with the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore being two of the most visible landmarks maintained by the National Park Service.[1] >...The term was first used after George Hartzog, the seventh director of the National Park Service, closed popular national parks such as the Washington Monument and Grand Canyon National Park for two days a week in 1969. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_syndrome#:~:text=The%20Washington%20Monument%20syndrome%2C%20also,when%20faced%20with%20budget%20cuts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_syndrome#:....
- cranky908canuck 2y ago
  In Canada, it's the "Musical Ride" process.
Youden 2y ago
Technically, if you don't have a device capable of receiving their broadcasts, you can get an exemption from the fee. Unfortunately a single computer or TV is enough to incur the obligation.
- avidiax 2y ago
  I think you're thinking of the BBC. Serafe will only let you waive the fee if everyone in your household is both deaf and blind, or you are on certain social benefits (can't afford it), or you are a diplomat. Everyone else has to pay CHF335/year, and good luck getting a partial refund if you leave the country (we didn't). https://www.serafe.ch/en/exemption-from-the-fee/basic-principle/ https://www.serafe.ch/en/exemption-from-the-fee/basic-princi...
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    >Everyone else has to pay CHF335/year, and good luck getting a partial refund if you leave the country (we didn't). Not Swiss here(it's the same kind of tax in Austria), and I hate useless taxes that incompetent governments shove down our throats, but I support the idea of citizens having an independent, impartial and transparent publicly funded media, and unfortunately that costs money to fund and maintain either through direct or indirect taxes, but either way you'll still be paying for it one way or another from the state budget. We can't have a functioning democracy expecting citizens to make informed decisions on important things like Brexit, when their only sources of information are controlled by big-ad-tech like Meta or Google and Warren Buffet. The only question remaining is the traditional "who watches the watchmen", as in what assurance do we have that the publicly funded media is truly unbiased and independent and not paddling its own biases and political agendas.
    - ekianjo 2y ago
      > the idea of citizens having an independent, impartial and transparent publicly funded media, if its controlled by the state by definition it cant be neutral.

tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago

I wonder how often such attempts backfire ("well, they're going to cut what is useful for me anyways, so why should I vote to give them any money?").

conradfr 2y ago

Can there be an initiative to force them to keep FM?

nar001 2y ago

Funny how it's always the SVP trying to cut the SRG funds, after their first initiative to completely abolish the tax failed.

mschuster91 2y ago
Attacking public broadcasters is a pretty standard playbook of the far-right and even Conservatives - the latter in Germany for example killed off fibre buildout under Kohl in favor of cable TV/radio because they wanted private broadcasters as competition against a "too left" public TV [1]. The consequences of that decision haunt us to this day, with many households still getting internet access via decades-old twisted pair phone lines. [1] https://netzpolitik.org/2018/danke-helmut-kohl-kabelfernsehen-statt-glasfaserausbau/ https://netzpolitik.org/2018/danke-helmut-kohl-kabelfernsehe...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]