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Switzerland is doing away with over-the-air TV

mvcg66b3r

mvcg66b3r

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Rabbit ears and other TV antennas could be useless in Switzerland before too long.

The Swiss government has given the country’s public broadcaster approval to turn off its digital terrestrial TV (known as over-the-air to most people) by the end of 2019. It will be the first nation in Europe to do so.

Most Swiss have high speed broadband internet connections and cable networks in their homes, so the move is unlikely to affect many citizens. Only 1.9% of the population, about 64,000 people, reportedly take advantage of the service that’s being discontinued.

Other European nations are expected to follow Switzerland’s lead in the next 10 to 15 years. And while many Americans believe the right to free, over-the-air broadcasts are protected, that’s not quite as cut and dry as it might seem.
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http://fortune.com/2018/09/06/switzerland-terrestrial-tv-shutdown/
 
How many people watch OTA television in Switzerland?

The terrain there is extremely, incredibly rough.
I am guessing most people ditched the antenna years ago due to coverage issues.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
How many people watch OTA television in Switzerland?
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64,000, or 1.9 percent of the population, it says right in the story. These are probably the poorest, oldest, and least tech-savvy of the Swiss, which means the advertisers don't care if they can't watch.
 
Considering the Swiss have a decent social "safety net" as compared to the US and internet is arguably just as cheap or cheaper than the US (unlimited mobile broadband with fast enough speed to watch streaming videos can be had for about $25-35), I wouldn't consider this a huge loss...

Actually, I'd probably the only folks who don't have internet or satellite/cable in Switzerland are probably the types who generally speaking do not watch much if any TV...so out of the 64,000 who rely on OTA TV, I'd imagine only 10% of that number are folks who regularly watch OTA TV.

So, 7,000 Swiss stretched over a geographically challenging land is not a huge issue for the public broadcaster. With the costs saved in shutting off the network, they could arguably get those 7,000 Swiss free broadband or low-optioned cable and still come out on top -- not having to pay engineers, tower maintenance/rent, equipment, power consumption.

Wise move, you crafty Swiss. Now please, legalize auto racing in your country...after you've done that, come to the US and show us folks a thing or two about "gun control"
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
Considering the Swiss have a decent social "safety net" as compared to the US and internet is arguably just as cheap or cheaper than the US (unlimited mobile broadband with fast enough speed to watch streaming videos can be had for about $25-35), I wouldn't consider this a huge loss...

Actually, I'd probably the only folks who don't have internet or satellite/cable in Switzerland are probably the types who generally speaking do not watch much if any TV...so out of the 64,000 who rely on OTA TV, I'd imagine only 10% of that number are folks who regularly watch OTA TV.

So, 7,000 Swiss stretched over a geographically challenging land is not a huge issue for the public broadcaster. With the costs saved in shutting off the network, they could arguably get those 7,000 Swiss free broadband or low-optioned cable and still come out on top -- not having to pay engineers, tower maintenance/rent, equipment, power consumption.

Wise move, you crafty Swiss. Now please, legalize auto racing in your country...after you've done that, come to the US and show us folks a thing or two about "gun control"
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And about how to stay out of wars by acting as banker/financier for both sides.
 
They maintain firm grips with both hands.

Advertisers? What are those, SRG SSR is their license-supported public broadcaster?
The article is NOT about any private broadcqasters which may or may not exist.3
 
I will take this thread one step further and predict that cable and sat delivery of TV signals and stations are not far behind.
Soon, it will all be web-delivered. Who would have ever predicted that terrestrial radio will actually outlast terrestrial TV?
Scandinavian countries leading Europe's cashless trend is for another thread.
 
ai4i said:
I will take this thread one step further and predict that cable and sat delivery of TV signals and stations are not far behind.
Soon, it will all be web-delivered. Who would have ever predicted that terrestrial radio will actually outlast terrestrial TV?
Scandinavian countries leading Europe's cashless trend is for another thread.
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This is not the way to do things. Over-the-air, where it works, is the best way to send out information.

There's too much going out over the web and we can't handle it all. That's what "net neutrality" is about. It costs more to send out large amounts of information and some companies want to charge more for what is slowing down the Internet. Cable is better.
 
vchimpanzee said:
This is not the way to do things. Over-the-air, where it works, is the best way to send out information.
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Wireless internet IS over the air.
People can get their full CATV channel lineups on any wireless device already,
so just wait for 5G.
A few dozen TV channels will never again be enough...from any platform.
 
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ai4i said:
Wireless internet IS over the air.
People can get their full CATV channel lineups on any wireless device already,
so just wait for 5G.
A few dozen TV channels will never again be enough...from any platform.
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Wireless, maybe. But all that information is going to reach the limit of what wires can handle.
 
It will come to the states to sooner or later.The corrupt hands keep gobbling up TV freq bandwidth like Pac Man for the corrupt wireless companies.There will be only a handful of channels left.Why bother with a handful.Just dump it altogether....

Was it the Swiss that got rid of FM analog radio a couple years ago.Cant remember......
 
NRK transitioned to a digital-only platform but Norwegian private stations continue to transmit on both their antiquated platform and the superior digital media.
There is nothing corrupt about over-the-air telecasters wanting to maintain their ease-of-access advantage over the unregulated services until they collaborate with corrupt politicians to limit the viewers' choices artificially.
Viewers want much, much more, and wireless access is to one-way television as online streaming is to a magazine stand or maybe even a small neighborhood library.
People are watching their favorite TV programs on their laptops at Starbucks, not carrying portable TVs around.
 
They are building 5G towers right in front of people's bedroom windows right now, salivating over the money they will make when everything is done over the internet. Next, according to what I've read, are blimps tethered overhead in our neighborhoods.
The idea seems to be, use IOT to inventory your refrigerator, listen in on your Alexa, and monitor what you are watching on TV, then send what they think you want next by drone, automatically charging your credit card.
Sounds like a new form of "Big Brother".
 
Nah, some of those things will be with 6G or maybe 7G.
We will just have to wait :(
 
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