Next cost-cutting hammer announced Hundreds of redundancies and probably more program cuts - what the SRG cutbacks mean
Following the announcement of massive job cuts at SRG, further details are now available. SRG is expecting around 300 redundancies. It is unclear how the cuts will affect the regions.
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- Of the total of 900 jobs to be lost, around 600 departures from 2027 are still unclear - around half are to be achieved through attrition, says SRG.
- According to SRG, regional target figures and specific cost-saving measures have not yet been defined; however, redundancies are "unavoidable".
- Effects on programming and locations are foreseeable, but not yet quantified - SRG emphasizes that it wants to protect journalistic quality.
Following the first internal personnel information on Monday morning, SRG is specifying its plans for the second major cut from 2027. Around 900 jobs are to disappear, SRG announced on Monday afternoon.
The changeover will begin at the start of 2026 in the HR and finance departments, which will then be managed uniformly across the Group. Employees will continue to work in their respective regions, but will increasingly operate across locations.
Of the total of around 900 full-time positions that are to disappear between 2025 and the end of 2029, a third are already being implemented. This part was announced and consulted on by the four regional companies SRF, RTS, RSI and RTR in 2024 and 2025.
This leaves around 600 jobs open, which will only be eliminated in the second stage from 2027. "Based on the experience of recent years, we expect that a good half of these can be absorbed through natural fluctuation or retirements," says SRG media spokeswoman Gianna Blum at the request of blue News.
In other words, SRG expects to have to give notice to around 300 more people. Blum also confirms: "Unfortunately, redundancies are unavoidable."
It remains to be seen how the approximately 900 redundancies will be distributed across the four language regions. Although the future management structure has been defined as of today, there are still no concrete target figures per location. First of all, the cost measures must be coordinated across all divisions, it is said.
Effects on the regions still unclear
Only then will SRG be able to determine which positions and jobs will actually be cut. The regional management teams will be replaced by mid-2026 - this could also have an impact on the internal structure.
Several programs have already disappeared this year. For example, the well-known celebrity show "Gesichter & Geschichten" was dropped from the program. Other formats have also already fallen victim to the red pencil. Should SRG users now expect further cuts to the program? "We are first making savings in structures, processes, standards and the portfolio in order to protect the program and journalism," says SRG media spokeswoman Blum.
At the same time, she admits that the savings target of around CHF 270 million in total by 2029 "cannot be achieved without impacting the offering". One thing is clear: it will not be possible to achieve this completely without cuts.
"It will not be possible to do the same thing"
It is therefore unclear whether individual formats will be reduced or eliminated. SRG is also not making any concrete statements on the question of whether regional studios or correspondent structures could be weakened.
The question of how SRG intends to continue to guarantee a balanced journalistic offering for all language regions with massively fewer staff is particularly sensitive. SRG refers to the concession: multilingualism is "clearly anchored" and remains a core mandate.
At the same time, it does not rule out that viewers will feel the effects of the savings: "It will not be possible to do the same thing with fewer resources," explains Blum. However, journalistic quality has priority - it is "non-negotiable".
