The years-long dispute between Sunrise and SSR over the rights to broadcast ice hockey in Switzerland has been enriched with a new page, perhaps the last: the Federal Administrative Court partially agrees with both, focusing on the appeals filed by each against the conditions set by the Federal Office of Communications in December 2022.
It concerns in particular summaries (3 minutes maximum) of championship matches, knowing that the live broadcast of all National League matches has been acquired by Sunrise (for the MySports channel) for the seasons from 2022/2023 to 2026/2027. The exception to exclusivity that summaries constitute, “aims to inform the entire population of public events”, recalls TAF. It is essentially a question of reporting rights.
Opinions differed about when to publish it, whether it should be used on digital platforms (and therefore on the website), and what reference Sunrise should provide.
The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SSR) favours the first point in particular: summaries can be broadcast from the end of the match, without having to wait any longer (Sunrise requested an hour and a half). However, online, only the radio broadcast in the linear programme will be available (which must arrive first), without editorial changes: it will therefore not be possible to make individual summaries available, for example isolating a very specific match report, as part of the text news. Finally, Sunrise will have to provide SSR with a reference indicating the source, but without further graphic additions to the images.
Both parties can still appeal the ruling in federal court.
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