TeleTicino: a local private TV facing a public giant - on the same ground!
Filippo LOMBARDI (CH) Manager, CEO -- TeleTicino (Melide)
The success story of TeleTicino - the only private TV of Italian-speaking Switzerland - started in 1994, with a short daily news programme and less than ten young people, working with very high dedication...
Today we are about 40, sending 24 hours a day and producing ourselves an average of fifteen hours fresh programmes a week, mainly in the fields of news, reports, political and social debates, and a little local entertainment.
Peculiar were two aspects. On the one hand, the very late (and still unsatisfactory) liberalisation of the Swiss TV law (private channels are authorised only since 1993, and have to face quite a number of restrictions). On the other hand, the direct competition - practically on the same, reduced territory - of this small private local channel with a powerful public service TV, the Televisione della Svizzera Italiana (TSI). The last one - as a part of the SSR-SRG, the State company, with 6 channels covering the whole Switzerland, two per language: German, French and Italian - benefits largely from "national solidarity".
TSI receives, therefore, 23% of the total financial means of the Swiss TV (high taxes, plus commercial income) whereas the Italian-speaking minority only represents 4 % of the population. It counts on some 800 people, for producing two "national" programmes which can actually concentrate their main efforts on the same local target than TeleTicino, although with 20 times more means and a clear added value also on the local publicity market!
How was it possible to face this extraordinary imbalance, and still find a way to develop TeleTicino in order to reach the present audience and financial break-even point? With some priorities in local aspects, dynamic journalistic approach, political independence, commercial skill and low budget working habits, which we shall be delighted to share with you at MITIL during this meeting.