Answers to the Serafe hammer How much do I pay? And what can I still watch on SRF in future?

The Federal Council wants to reduce the Serafe fees and force SRG to make savings. What does this mean in concrete terms? blue News answers the most important questions.

SRG will have to save around CHF 150 million per year from 2029. This was announced by Media Minister Albert Rösti on Wednesday. The Federal Council wants to reduce the Serafe fees from the current CHF 335 to CHF 300 in the coming years.

This will have far-reaching consequences for SRG. In future, around 15 to 20 percent less budget will be available, Rösti calculated.

Where will SRG make savings? When will I start paying less Serafe? And will I still be able to watch sports programs on SRF in the future? blue News provides the most important answers.

The Federal Council wants to gradually reduce the annual household fee, known as Serafe. From 2027, the fee is to fall from CHF 335 to CHF 312, and from 2029 to CHF 300.

Secondly, according to the Federal Council's plan, around 80 percent of companies subject to VAT will be exempt from the levy from 2027 - the limit for paying the corporate levy will be increased from the current CHF 500,000 annual turnover to CHF 1.2 million.

According to current forecasts by the Federal Council, it is likely to be around CHF 150 million less in 2029. Rösti estimates that the SRG budget is likely to fall by around 15 to 17 percent overall. "This will have a drastic impact," says Rösti.

The media minister cannot say how many jobs will be lost. It is the task of the SRG management to find out. It had previously forecast a reduction of around 900 jobs in all regions.

That remains to be seen in the coming years. Rösti does not want to draw up the new SRG concession, which is to apply from 2029, until after the vote on the halving initiative. Only then will it be clear how much money will actually be available to SRG in future.

The plan is to focus SRG's mandate more strongly on information, education and culture as well as on the audience's new usage habits. "SRG should be forced to increase its efficiency and focus its offering," said Rösti on Wednesday. In the areas of entertainment and sport, for example, there are numerous other providers on the market and SRG is not necessarily needed here.

The online offering should focus more on audio and video content. Texts should only be available to a limited extent in favor of the other media groups.

It remains to be seen what the SRG's exact offering will look like in future.

SRG welcomes the Federal Council's rejection of the halving initiative. "The SRG would no longer be able to finance its current decentralized structure and the diversity of its offering with such a greatly reduced budget. This would be a hard blow for the Swiss film, music, culture and sports industries," reads a statement.

SRG acknowledges the decision to reduce the Serafe fee to CHF 300. "It will now analyze the effects of this decision in detail and initiate the necessary measures. SRG is thus at the beginning of a longer-term process," it says. Specific details, such as redundancies, are not yet available.

However, SRG wants to "do everything in its power to continue to guarantee a diverse and high-quality public service for all parts of the country".

SRF actually announced a savings program back in March. This program also includes redundancies. The savings and personnel measures will be worked out by the summer and implemented by 2025, the statement continues.

However, this program is independent of the planned reduction in fees, according to SRG. The reason for this is the decline in advertising revenue and inflation. SRG will have to react to these ongoing developments as early as 2025.

No. The corresponding dispatch will now go to Parliament. It 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 Councils could also override the Federal Council's decision, especially as the gradual tax reduction it has decided on will only take effect from 2027.

A correction is realistic because the two responsible parliamentary committees unanimously spoke out against the Federal Council's approach during the consultation process. They argued that the Federal Council should first submit a revision of the SRG license or the performance mandate for consultation and only then determine the level of the radio and television fee.

The tenor was that an immediate reduction in the media levy would restrict parliament's room for maneuver with regard to discussing the SRG initiative or the halving initiative.

Even the SVP members of the parliamentary telecommunications committees are critical of the Federal Council's approach. Before the financial resources are quantified, the scope and content of the public service must be discussed. Rösti himself expects a "heated debate", as he said on Wednesday.

Broad circles are opposed to the reduction in broadcasting fees. In particular, the reduction by ordinance and the disregard for the majority of negative consultation responses are offending them.

The Greens expressed their concern in a press release. The concessions made to the SVP and the initiators of the halving initiative were wrong. By changing the ordinance, Federal Councillor Albert Rösti is once again undermining Parliament - as he did with the wolf cull.

The reduction contradicts the current SRG concession, the responses to the consultation process and the resolutions of the responsible parliamentary committees, wrote the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB). With the amendment to the ordinance, the national government is creating facts even before the initiative has been discussed. Last but not least, this is contrary to democratic practices.

The Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals (SSM) was shocked. The national government pushed through the controversial partial revision despite immense criticism, wrote the media union. Without consideration for the commissions, without necessity, without parliament and without a referendum, the Federal Council is depriving the public service of millions. The Syndicom trade union sounded the same note.

The Swiss Trade Association (SGV), a co-initiator, insisted that all commercial enterprises should be exempt from the levies.

Telesuisse, the Association of Swiss Regional Television, and the private radio stations, which are also involved in the fees, stated that the reduction should not be borne by them. The cost-cutting measures should only affect SRG. On the other hand, the latter should not cut back on cooperation with the regional broadcasters.

"Rösti roasts journalism" was the title of Operation Libero's reaction. Attacking the media and the public media service is part of the populists' little ABC. The hope that the halving initiative will be stopped in its tracks is misguided. The SRG would no longer be able to fulfill its service mandate with the cuts from 2027.

With material from Keystone-SDA