Swiss Want Comprehensive Public Service Broadcasting – Including in the Digital Realm
What content should SRG SSR provide in the future, and via which channels? These questions remain relevant even after the referendum in March 2026, in which Switzerland voted against drastically reducing radio and television license fees. This is because the SRG SSR, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, will receive a new mandate starting in 2029, which may result in new requirements for what it should offer, and where and how. To provide empirical support for the media policy discussion, the Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (fög) at the University of Zurich (UZH) conducted an online survey in June 2026. Almost 1,500 people from the German-, French- and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland responded, representing the resident population of Switzerland aged 18 to 79 who use the internet.
Broad support for public media
According to the survey, 58% of respondents consider public service media like SRG SSR to be important or very important to society, while another 26% rate it as moderately important. Only 17% believe it has little or no social significance. Around two thirds also expect SRG SSR to contribute to social cohesion, foster exchange between the country’s different language regions, reflect Switzerland’s diversity, and appeal to as many people as possible through a variety of offerings.
“The results show that the public sees public service media as more than individual programs or single areas like the news,” says study author Linards Udris. “Instead, it’s considered as key infrastructure that connects different groups and addresses various needs.”
Information takes priority, but sports and entertainment are also key
The public expects a wide range of offerings to continue in the future. A majority of 77% considers information to be an important component. At the same time, more than half of respondents are in favor of SRG SSR continuing to offer sports (52%) and educational content (52%), with just a quarter considering these categories unimportant. Culture (47%) and entertainment (45%) also receive significantly more approval than disapproval. About half of the respondents believe the current scope of content in all five categories has the right balance, while 34% believe there is too little educational content is lacking. In contrast, about a third say that there is too much sports programming.
Specific programs from various categories are also considered part of public service media, but not all of them. The main news programs, science shows, popular sports broadcasts, content related to everyday culture, and children’s content receive particularly strong support. Respondents are more critical of foreign series or content related to literature.
Differing needs for digital channels
When it comes to distribution channels, the population as a whole prefers SRG SSR’s own channels, both traditional and digital. 70% believe television should remain important in the future, compared to 47% for websites/apps and 47% for radio. Only 34% consider the streaming platform Play Suisse important. Overall, support for social media and external platforms like YouTube or Spotify is also lower. However, there are significant age-related differences here: 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds consider SRG SSR’s presence on social media important, compared to only around a quarter of people over 55. The majority of younger people (53%) also want text formats on digital channels in addition to video and audio. “As with the program categories, the channels also reveal how varied the needs of the population are,” says Udris. “A blanket reduction of SRG’s social media offerings or a transformation of its websites into a pure library for audio and video would particularly impact those groups whose media consumption has shifted significantly towards digital platforms.”
Most agree a good balance is achieved
Overall, the public views the content provided by SRG SSR favorably. The topic of balance discussed in media policy is also viewed positively by a majority: 45% believe that SRG SSR presents different political opinions in a balanced way, and 43% consider its selection of topics to be balanced. 20% and 16% see shortcomings in these respective areas; with the rest falling somewhere in between. People on the right of the political spectrum see balance in public service media somewhat more critically than those on the left.
Fact-checking: the most important new duty
Digital transformation is creating new potential roles for public media. The fight against disinformation is particularly important from the public’s perspective: 68% support expanding fact-checking at SRG SSR. Only 11% consider it unimportant. A digital archive expanded by museum collections (45%) and a hub for media literacy projects (41%) also receive comparatively high levels of support. New technical infrastructures, such as a social media platform featuring Swiss media (34%) and a non-commercial AI chatbot (31%), are viewed with more caution.
The study concludes that the future legitimacy of public service broadcasting largely depends on usage, trust and knowledge. Those who frequently use SRG SSR’s content, trust it, and are informed about how and under which framework SRG SSR operates, are more likely to support a broad range of offerings.