SRG Treats the Licence-Fee No as a Reprieve, Not a Mandate

BERN - SRG executives spent Monday describing Sunday's no on the licence-fee cut as a reprieve. The initiative titled 200 francs is enough took 38.1 percent yes and 61.9 percent no, with no canton in favour. Turnout on that item was 55.8 percent. Management said the household levy remains politically fragile even when it wins.

Regional editors in Chur, Lausanne and Lugano said the campaign had already frozen some hiring. A lost initiative does not unfreeze it overnight. The SVP said it would return with another cost argument, if not the same text.

Public service after a scare

The same Sunday buried a climate fund and passed a tax rewrite. Broadcasting was the cultural item. The night numbers sit in our main result story.