Günter Heuberger hands over after 37 years as head of the top media, which today includes the local TV station Tele Top, the radio stations Radio Top and Top Two as well as Top Online Philippe Pfiffnerwho will take over as managing director on March 1st.
In an interview with the Klein Report, Heuberger talks about the long struggle with publishers for the concession in the Winterthur, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and St. Gallen area and how he survived 10 concession procedures. It became dangerous for him from 2004 when the areas were politically determined and the publishers against the Federal Council Moritz Leuenberger intervened directly in the Federal Council.
What thoughts and feelings do you have when you leave?
Günter Heuberger: “With a good feeling, as always when I was able to hand over a task.”
The handover of the baton was originally planned for the end of 2021. Why now?
Günter Heuberger: «It was planned to hand over a department to Philippe every 3 months. The board of directors then suggested that we could accelerate, because internally and externally they felt very good feedback on the measures taken. “
Why is Philippe Pfiffner the right successor??
Heuberger: “He has a lot of management experience and attaches great importance to the public regional service, which is the DNA of TOP media.”
When you got into the media industry in the early 1980s, the world was still analog through and through and television through and through linear. What were the changes that most challenged you in your work as a media manager?
Günter Heuberger: “I was certainly never a media manager, but I had communication and leadership experience. Running a media company means that you have to reconcile the interests of the company with the legitimate interests of the public … »
How did you do it?
Heuberger: «In my time as a management team – and I always had great staff – we had to pass more than 10 licensing procedures for Radio Top, Tele Top and Top Two. There you stand in the shop window and in the fight of the interests of the cantons and the cities, which understand the newspapers, the radios and the television to convey their political, cultural and economic interests and messages. Bringing these interests under one roof with the interests of listeners, viewers and users is the greatest challenge for every media entrepreneur who has concessions with a service mandate and fee shares. “
The media industry is under pressure. The TV market has been able to assert itself quite well so far. But the streaming giants are at the gates. And in the interior of the country, previous newspaper publishers are trying to establish themselves as quasi-TV with video content. Where do you see the future for Radio Top and Tele Top?
Günter Heuberger: «Günter Heuberger:« Radio Top and Tele Top have always been under pressure from the regional newspaper publishers in Winterthur, Zurich, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and St. Gallen. It was most dangerous from 2004 to 2008, when the concession areas first had to be determined and then the respective concessions had to be granted. At that time, newspaper publishers had direct access to a Federal Council, which promptly brought a report against the areas proposed by Federal Councilor Leuenberger to the decisive Federal Council meeting … »
… what would have happened?
Heuberger: “The counter-proposal would have so openly distributed the previous broadcasting area of Tele Top to the neighboring publishers that it had no chance. Since then, we have been at least tolerated in terms of media policy and Radio Top and Tele Top are exposed to commercial pressure in the same way as all other media. The future will therefore remain challenging, but with creative ideas the management and employees will continue to be successful. “
In your opinion, what is going wrong in today’s media policy and what is going well?
Heuberger: «Even after Moritz Leuenberger was in the Uvek Doris Leuthard and with Simonetta Sommaruga the public service for the electronic media in the foreground – as in Bakom, so that I couldn’t complain. My successors on the boards of VSP and Telesuisse are also doing an excellent job. The industry will therefore have a good future once the Corona has been overcome! “
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