I DEMAND the tax payer pay for my Netflix. I've been enjoying it for years and it's got no adverts and high quality educational programs in multiple languages. Anything else is a far-right conspiracy.

Apart from glances at my parents house I haven't watched TV for a decade. It's antiquated.

Personally I think SRF4 is worth the cost in itself - a few hours at the weekend with it on in the background is great for my German; I even find myself understanding some of the local reports in Schweizerdeutsch!

Like Sunday trading it shows there's a limit to the usually robust Swiss common sense. They are against all change, good or bad.

Like Appennzell giving women the vote change is inevitably coming it's just a matter of when.

Viewing figures are falling.

In 1970 the most viewed program was watched by 28.7 million. More than half the population. Today that figure is more like a quarter most years. TV can probably stagger on for a bit but it's days are numbered.

Congratulations. SRF4 is a really good way of helping you understand not just German but also the Swiss political system. Now try moving on to SRF1 local news for your area. If you can understand any of that then you are really progressing. Local TV stations such as tele Züri or Tele basel are also very good.

Hey guy, if that's your argument, go scream at your health insurance and your pension fund. You're paying a lot more than 365/year to subsidise lots of things there too. In any case, like it or not, the law is the law and it has come democratically.

If you think your opinion is so popular, get an initiative together and try changing it.

Everybody has to live with things they don't like or even approve. It's called living in a society...

My main objection to the radio/TV tax is that it is paid to a private company. I'd have no problem with it if I paid it directly to the government as a line item on my tax return.

Under the old rules (with Billag) I didn't have to pay the TV tax because we do not have a television, nor did I subscribe to an internet streaming service. I paid the radio portion, obviously, because I listen to radio.

All that changed with Serafe. Under the new regs almost everyone has to pay, so now I dutifully pay my CHF 365. But grudgingly.


Irony: Because I now had no option but to pay the tax, I thought I might as well get something out of it. So we signed up for Netflix.

And then after a few months remembered why we got rid of television 20 plus years ago: suddenly OH and I barely spoke to each other in the evenings, we too often ended up just scrolling through the endless list of mind-numbingly bad programs looking for something worth watching.

Life is too short. We ditched Netflix, started talking to one another again, and now just grumble as we pay Serafe for nothing.

So you are suggesting that the Swiss population, in 1970*, was approximately 50 -52 million!

Where did everyone go?

P.S. The Swiss statistic office estimates it was 6.2 million in 1971.

And no car with a radio in? I would love to have a track focused Porsche or Ferrari with the radio removed.

There's a difference between funding the education of children, and helping the poor afford healthcare and paying for other people to watch TV.

You are right it's part of life to live with things you don't like, but it's not like people don't have the right to moan about it.

The person I was talking to was talking about the BBC - im sure the same is true of Switzerland though.

Hey guy, you chose a bad example there because health insurance is something I actively use and is directly relevant to my and everyone elses's health... whereas Swiss radio and terrestrial TV I do not use and has no relevance to me whatsoever. I may have to pay it, but I also have a right to complain vocally and at length about it.

As I said and as you conveniently ignored, I WOULD be willing to pay a contribution of 100 or even 150chf... but paying almost 400chf per year is an absolute joke.

Yup, Billag was one thing and more tolerable as it had some flexibility and lower costs, but Serafe has taken it into overdrive. Judging from the amount of pushback I have read online, I have a feeling the current system won't last so long.

At times of billag, there were 2 possibilities, you got Tv or not, now under serafe, there is only one possibility, got access or not .
So , it will be around 360 sfr per year,billag without tv was around 166 sfr.

If you want to avoid serafe, you need to proof, that you don't own a mobile, car and have your connection points sealed.
Otherwise , you have to pay .....

Well, here is a glimmer of good news guys... the price is being reduced starting in 2021 from 365chf to 335chf. https://www.serafe.ch/en/

That almost pays for my vignette.

I am astounded by some of the ridiculous arguments.

"It's only 1 Franc a day" - that's 365 francs that I can spend on something much better and over 20k for a lifetime. Why don't some of you send me 1 franc a day if it's so meaningless? I'll gladly provide my bitcoin address for this purpose.

"I have to pay for schools that I don't use, and thus you should not complain about TV" - so educating the population vs. lobotomizing the population with TV is the same thing? How egregious!

"Get over it, that's the price to live in society" - I am happy to pay for schools, housing for the needy, bureaucrats that make the system run, street lights so that the vast majority of people can see at night, the military to defend the country - all those things are necessary to live in society. A medium that is disappearing, and as someone commented earlier is on the path to extinction being propped up by my money!? That's absolutely not ok. Viewership is dwindling it's a fact.

"you should feel warm inside for helping grandpa watching TV" Grandpa had access to cheap properties, a nice pension, job security - screw him and his TV.

The biggest joke of it all is that they charge you in the "event" that you could connect to the TV. Wifi and a smart phone! I would understand if they charged you if you own a physical TV, in this case they apply this generally to everyone to us over and take our money.

71% voted against the plan with a 54% turnout or 38% of the population voted to keep this going - sounds like another case of young people too busy surviving and making ends meet to go voting. That's the real problem.

So now to my initial question: Can OFCOM force themselves into my property or is it similar to the UK where "they can keep on knocking but they can't come in!"? Is my Internet Service Provider required to provide them information on me?

I will try to opt out - as the Wifi in my house is to work from home, and my smart phone is provided by my work with all the necessary blocks in place so that I don't waste time watching TV as an example. Not much hope but at least I will have tried.

Silver lining - I am sure that we will see this crap being killed off in my lifetime, whether that's the rubbish they broadcast via the BBC in the UK - or whatever garbage they have here in Switzerland. Reading some more on the topic, when the vote was passed it was completely disingenuous and the bill was proposed as some form of cultural protection of Switzerland. Let's hope they come back with a better worded bill in the next few years, and that enough of the population is not completely manipulated by that same TV, that I am sure broadcasted none stop the ill effect of cutting their budget off.

Disgusting.

I have done - and will be emptying it every 5 years. That annoys me a lot more than TV... Its just a wasteful poorly thought through system.

Despite being a natural net contributor, I'm very happy with Swiss healthcare.

SRF should publish a breakdown of their costs. No doubt there is a small number of TV shows in addition to luxurious offices and inflated salaries that account for a large portion of the CHF 365 charge.

Well - in that case you don't own a smartphone and you should report it as such. Its your works smartphone.

Not sure that would work. It's on devices in the household, not who owns them.


If all devices are owned by the company and are required for work purposes (Including, I'm guessing, your car) why don't you just expense the cost of Serafe?

I'm always a little bit surprised at the level of passion that this topic always induces. There is very little that you can do about it and I am guessing that most of the people on the forum can easily afford this.


You will cause yourself an ulcer.


As Elsa says 'Let it go'