{"id":34467,"date":"2018-10-12T08:18:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T12:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=34467"},"modified":"2018-10-12T08:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T12:18:55","slug":"switzerland-ending-rf-terrestrial-broadcasting-of-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/switzerland-ending-rf-terrestrial-broadcasting-of-television\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland ending RF terrestrial broadcasting of television"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Television<\/a>

Photo by Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

(Source: Fortune<\/a> via Mark Fahey)<\/p>\n

\n

Switzerland Is Doing Away With Over-the-Air TV. Could the U.S. Do the Same?<\/h2>\n

Rabbit ears and other TV antennas could be useless in Switzerland before too long.<\/p>\n

The Swiss government has given the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s being discontinued.<\/p>\n

Other European nations are expected to follow Switzerland\u2019s lead in the next 10 to 15 years. And while many Americans believe the right to free, over-the-air broadcasts are protected, that\u2019s not quite as cut and dry as it might seem.<\/p>\n

Yes, the federal government licenses the airwaves to television stations (among other entities). […]But the government doesn\u2019t license networks, only individual stations, as outlined by the FCC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe license only individual broadcast stations,\u201d: the agency says in a 2008 report explaining its authority.<\/p>\n

[…]Put another way: Networks are not required to broadcast their shows over the air.[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to read the full article at Fortune.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: Fortune via Mark Fahey) Switzerland Is Doing Away With Over-the-Air TV. Could the U.S. Do the Same? Rabbit ears and other TV antennas could be useless in Switzerland before too long. The Swiss government has given the country\u2019s public broadcaster approval to turn off its digital terrestrial TV (known as over-the-air to most people) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3,7349],"tags":[7352,2699,1647,7351,7350,1352],"class_list":["post-34467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","category-tv","tag-end-of-ota","tag-forbes","tag-mark-fahey","tag-ota","tag-over-the-air","tag-switzerland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-8XV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5994,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/switzerland-in-sound-comes-with-a-familiar-voice\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":0},"title":"Switzerland In Sound comes with a familiar voice","author":"Thomas","date":"April 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For any of you who listened to Swiss Radio International (SRI) on shortwave radio, you'll no doubt know the name of long-time radio presenter Bob Zanotti. For me, his deep, rich voice was synonymous with SRI. What you may not know is that Zanotti hosts his own website called Switzerland\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The host of Switzerland in Sound, Bob Zanotti.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/BobZanotti-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4376,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/swiss-short-wave-service-archives-now-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":1},"title":"Swiss Short Wave Service archives now online","author":"Thomas","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: swissinfo.ch) During the Second World War, Switzerland\u2019s fledgling short wave radio service was essential to its attempts to communicate its policies and actions to an external audience made up of both foreign governments and the Swiss abroad. The archives of the Short Wave Service (SWS), founded in 1935, have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/SwissShortWave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13629,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/switzerlands-international-voice-in-a-changing-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":2},"title":"“Switzerland\u2019s international voice in a changing world”","author":"Thomas","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to my buddy, Rob Wagner, for passing along yet another great article with archived sound clips from Swiss Radio International. Click here to read Switzerland\u2019s international voice in a changing world. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Photo: SwissInfo.ch)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/SwissShortWave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/bob-thomann-and-bob-zanotti-interview-jeff-white\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":3},"title":"Bob Thomann and Bob Zanotti interview Jeff White","author":"Thomas","date":"August 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Switzerland in Sound via RNW Media Network) Bob Thomann and Bob Zanotti, better known as The Two Bobs formerly of Swiss Radio International, have been friends with Jeff White for decades. Jeff started out as a shortwave listener, and then got into HF broadcasting himself, originally with a project\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/switzerlandinsound.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47074,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/swissinfo-shares-a-holiday-recording-from-their-archives\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":4},"title":"SwissInfo shares a holiday recording from their archives","author":"Thomas","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following note from SwissInfo.ch: Since you're no doubt wondering what Christmas sounds like in Switzerland's four national languages, we've dusted off an old radio interview, produced in 1975 by the Swiss Short-wave Service, later Swiss Radio International and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61530,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/sbc-pulls-the-plug-on-fm-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":34467,"position":5},"title":"SBC pulls the plug on FM radio","author":"Thomas","date":"January 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news item via SwissInfo.ch: Swiss Broadcasting Corporation pulls plug on FM radio (SwissInfo.ch) The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) switched off outdated analogue FM transmitters at 11:59pm on New Year's Eve. Connections to around 850 ultra-shortwave transmitters throughout Switzerland\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Audio Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Audio Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/digital-audio-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}