Tamedia in the year 2010
As of 11 January, search.ch provides its own iPone app with a wide range of amenities. Users find names, telephone numbers and addresses of companies as well as private persons in the directories application. Nearby public transportation stops are displayed with current departure times, and detailed weather forecast is available for over 3’000 cities and villages throughout Switzerland as well. The app is available in German, French, Italian and English.
search.ch started its new price and product comparison service on 18 January. product.search.ch offers its users an overview of consumer electronics and IT products and their prices at any time of the day. Information about a specific product is provided by some 1’300 retailers and distributors, including prices and sales conditions, and can be compared accordingly. User have also access to detailed product information, test reports and specification sheets.
TeleZüri is receivable in the greater Lucerne area as of 26 January. The Cablecom cable network, together with affiliated partner networks, allow now broadcasting to some 107’500 households in the area.
20 minutes was published on 8 March 2006 for the first time. 28 September 2009, the commuter newspaper was merged with Le Matin bleu of Edipresse, and the merged editorial team worked on a new layout and editorial concept which was presented to the public in November 2009. Readership of 20 minutes was going up from 276’000 to 526’000 within just four years. Some 68,5 jobs are provided within the print and online editorial teams. On 23 February, 20 minutes celebrates its 1000th edition.
TeleBärn celebrates its 15th anniversary on 1 March. To commemorate this jubilee, the second largest private television station in Switzerland looks back in history, and behind the scenes of present time daily radio broadcasting. The new programming director, Patrik Teuscher, will have his first working day at TeleBärn the same day.
The Board of Directors of Tamedia appoints on 2 March Martin Spieler to become new Editor-in-Chief of SonntagsZeitung. The present Editor-in-Chief of Handelszeitung and TV moderator will take over his new duty succeeding Andreas Durisch in the course of this summer.
TeleZüri announces on 2 March that the show Swissdate will be discontinued by mid July because of increasing difficulties to find candidates for the show. A further reason was constantly decreasing viewer figures.
Tamedia announces on 2 March that Dominique von Albertini, publishing manager of 20 Minuten Friday, decided to leave the company by May. Annina Flückiger, presently marketing manager of 20 Minuten, will take over his duty by the beginning of June.
It is announced on 4 March that Berner Bär will be published weekly, instead of twice weekly, as of Summer 2010, being distributed each Tuesday in a optimized circulation of 100’000 copies. At the same time, a new layout will be presented to the public.
The new four bundles concept of Tages-Anzeiger enables a quicker print flow during night. Tamedia announces therefore on 10 March that the organisation and work flow within the printing facility Bubenberg will be adjusted accordingly, and 14 job positions cut. The Tages-Anzeiger social plan applies. By these job cutting measures, all internal work flow adjustments due to the new four bundle concept are completed.
Ursula Fraefel, Editor-in-Chief of the Thurgauer Zeitung, leaves the newspapers by the end of March to become head of communications and member of the executive management of Economiesuisse. Peter Hartmeier, being publisher of Huber & Co. AG, will take over the lead of the editorial team as well.
By 1 April, Freiburger Nachrichten AG takes over the local newspapers Der Murtenbieter and Anzeiger von Kerzers. All staff members of the editorial and the sales teams are offered further employment, the business locations in Kerzers and Murten will remain as well.
Tamedia shows a significant decrease in turnover in 2009 as a consequence of the economic crisis. The decrease is almost entirely a result of the lower advertising income. Thanks to the positive development of the magazines and the online media, and various cost reduction measures, Tamedia achieved a satisfactory result in the past year. The reported net profit for 2009 of CHF 46.7 million is 55.8 per cent or CHF 59.1 million below that of the previous year of CHF 105.7 million.
NZZ-Mediengruppe, Zürichsee Medien AG and Tamedia announce on 15 April that Thurgauer Zeitung is being transferred from Tamedia to FPH Freie Presse Holding AG, a subsidiary of NZZ-Mediengruppe. Thurgauer Zeitung will extend St. Galler Tagblatt’s newspaper group. For the canton of Thurgau, this cooperation will result in a strong voice on an economically sustainable basis. At the same time, Tamedia takes over the stakes in the Zurich regional papers Zürcher Unterländer, Zürichsee Zeitung und Zürcher Oberländer from FPH Freie Presse Holding. The Gut Family of publishers is selling its majority stake in Zürichsee Zeitung to Tamedia. Tamedia wants to continue Zürcher Landzeitungen as independent regional newspapers.
Edipresse Switzerland and Tamedia finalised the first step in their merger road map. As of 23 April, Tamedia holds 49.9 per cent of Presse Publications S.A. (PPSR), which itself incorporates all major media activities of Edipresse within Switzerland. Furthermore, the two companies initiated an integration committee with representatives from both sides. Already 64 integration projects have yet been identified, they are on the agenda for the upcoming months and years.
At the occasion of a festive ceremony at the Zurich Opera House on 24 April, Schweizer Familie and Unicef Switzerland honour a large number of children, schools, and families. Within the Sternenwoche project, they participated in fundraising money for development projects in Mauretania, Africa.
The Swiss sports channel Schweizer Sportfernsehen SSF and TeleZüri announced a comprehensive co-operation agreement on 5 May. The sports channel will transfer the editorial office, broadcasting operations and studio productions to the TeleZüri facilities, and is about to broadcast from the Heinrichstrasse location already in August. The units studio productions, talk, outside productions, and technical infrastructure will be operated by TeleZüri to a large extend as well.
The Basler Zeitung Medien, Espace Media and Tamedia announce on 1 Juni that the three firms agreed on continuing their partnership. The three media companies co-operate within their joint sales organisation Metropool, as well as the internet news platform Newsnetz. Furthermore the three publish together the weekly magazine Das Magazin, and they offer a joint Basler Zeitung and SonntagsZeitung subscription combo.
The Board of Directors, the Management Board and editorial and sales staff members came together on 22 June to bid farewell to Andreas Durisch. After twenty years of working with Tamedia, he left the company. He was editor-in-chief of Schweizer Familie from 1993 until 1997. That same year he was appointed editor-in-chief of SonntagsZeitung, and he headed the weekly news magazine Facts as editor-in-chief from November 2005 until June 2007 as well.
Tamedia announces on 7 June that the Board of Directors appointed Olaf Kuhlmann editor-in-chief of Automobil Revue as well as Revue Automobile in French. He still works with German Bauer-Verlag as executive editor of Auto Zeitung, but is planned to take over his new position not later than January 2011.
Radio 24 further strengthened its market position as number 1 in the Greater Zurich Area in the first half year of 2010, and has even more listener as the stately owned radio channel DRS3. Also within the target group of the 15 to 49 years old – specially interesting for the advertising industry – Radio 24 is again holding the leading position. On 19 July, Radio 24 announces as well that it is further enhancing its program features with the help of the musical director of American singer Pink, Paul Mirkovich.
Der Landbote, the regional split editions of Tages-Anzeiger, Zürcher Unterländer, as well as Zürichsee-Zeitung announce on 21 July to handle sales activities on their own as of 2011. The respective contracts with Publicitas will expire by the end of the year. The four regional newspapers will establish a joint sales organisation in which Zürcher Oberländer will participate for its national sales activities as well.
The six leading private radio stations in Basel, Berne and Zurich announce on 25 August that they will establish a joint radio advertisement booking pool. The new pool, which is about to replace the existing Swiss Radio Pool, includes Capital FM, Energy Bern, Energy Zürich, Radio 24, Radio Basel and Radio Basilisk. The present Swiss Radio Pool will be closed by the end of 2010.
As of 30 August, the biggest Bernese free sheet Bernerbär will be published weekly and with an optimised circulation of 100'000 copies.
Radio 24 presents his new acoustic design on 31 August. It includes new sound logos and transition elements connecting two different songs. Furthermore, new programs for the weekend are presented to the public.
Tamedia announces its half year result on 1 September. The turnover in the first half year increased to CHF 386 million from CHF 377 million in the previous year. The growth in sales results in particular from the newly acquired media such as search.ch, the Zürcher Unterländer and the Zürichsee-Zeitung. The operating profit before depreciation and amortisation EBITDA increased to CHF 66 million from CHF 26 million in the previous year thanks to cost reduction measures. The operating profit before depreciation and amortisation EBIT reached CHF 49 million compared to CHF 9 million in the previous year.
Zürcher Unterländer, Zürichsee-Zeitung and Tages-Anzeiger announce on 13 September that they are set to establish joint local editorial offices. The new teams in either Bülach or Dielsdorf as well as in Horgen and Stäfa will include staff members of all six present local editorial offices. By restructuring the editorial and sales offices of Tages-Anzeiger, Zürcher Unterländer and Zürichsee-Zeitung, some 37 layoffs have to be announced, of which 28 staff members of Tages-Anzeiger, two staff member of Zürcher Unterländer and seven staff members of Zürichsee-Zeitung are affected. A social plan having been negotiated with the respective staff representatives is set up for those employees.
Landbote, Zürcher Oberländer, Zürcher Unterländer and Zürichsee-Zeitung announce on 23 September that they are about to establish a joint main section for all newspapers. This new main section will be edited at the Landbote offices in Winterthur. Landbote’s Editor-in-chief Colette Gradwohl will be responsible for the new main section. A publicistic counsel with representatives of all newspapers involved will monitor this task. By joining the two present main section editorial offices, Zürich Land Medien AG and Ziegler Druck und Verlags AG will lay off ten staff members. Both companies support the affected staff members with a social plan.
The fourteen radio stations involved in the Swiss Radio Pool advertisement booking system decided on 12 October to close this booking pool. The respective booking office Mediasense in Aarau is closed by the end of the year, but is set to handle all existing and incoming bookings until then. Already on 20 August, the six private radio stations Capital FM, Energy Bern, Energy Zürich, Radio 24, Radio Basel, and Radio Basilisk announced that they will establish a new joint radio advertisement booking pool.
Edipresse and Tamedia present on 14 October their long-term print strategy. This strategy is based on the operation of three local printing facilities in the Berne, Western Switzerland and Zurich areas. The printing facility in Oetwil am See, less then 20 kilometres away from the flagship printing facility in Zurich, will be closed in 2011. At the same time, Edipresse and Tamedia will invest some CHF 15 million in the printing facilities in Bussigny, Lausanne, and Bubenberg, Zurich. 20 of the 55 staff members in Oetwil will receive job offers at the printing facility in Zurich, some 16 will be offered early retirement. 19 full-time staff members will have to be laid-off as well as 41 part-time free lancers. At the Bussigny printing facility, 16 of the present 245 staff members are laid-off, four of those being offered early retirement. A social plan for all staff members affected will be established.
The 20 Minuten media family is launching on 25 October a joint mobile offer together with Swiss mobile communication provider Sunrise. The special offer includes competitive pre-paid and subscription offers as well as state-of-the-art mobile phones. As of 10 November, the new music streaming platform «Soundshack» follows. The paid content music platform offers a choice of several millions songs of all different music styles like pop, hip hop or rock, prepared for streaming on the soundshack.ch portal.
Tamedia announces on 3 november that Zofinger Tagblatt AG takes over Solothurner Woche as of 1 January 2011. All editorial and publishing staff members are offered continued employment. The existing offices remain in Solothurn.
At the occasion of the National Future Day on 11 November, some 45 children of employees visit the editorial and publishing offices in Lausanne, some 25 those in Berne and some 20 those in Zurich. The children are offered an inside view into a media corporation and learn more about the medias, departments and its jobs.
Schaffhauser Nachrichten announce on 18 November that the newspaper is about to join the Zurich regional newspaper network and to participate in the main section coverage in the areas of international news, domestic news, and economics. It will also participate in the advertisement market joint co-operation. The new co-operation includes as of 1 January 2011 the dailies Der Landbote, Zürcher Oberländer, Zürcher Unterländer, Zürichsee-Zeitung and Schaffhauser Nachrichten.
Publicitas and Tamedia announce on 25 November that their co-operation is based on a new contract. The new general agreement includes all newspapers and magazines of Tamedia and Espace Media in the German speaking part of Switzerland, and will come into effect by 1 January 2011. The two companies continue their long-time partnership, streamline administrative processes and extend the digital interfaces.
tilllate.com announces on 3 December that it will join the 20 Minuten media network as of 2011. The 20 Minuten media already today co-operate with tilllate.com in the areas of party news coverage, night life agenda, as well as the lifestyle magazine 20 Minuten Friday. The nightlife news coverage of the independent platform tilllate.com will be extended and integrated into the 20 Minuten news platform.
Das Magazin announces on 13 December that a news style supplement is about to be launched. By publishing this new supplement, Das Magazin offers its 675’000 readers additional content and style inspiration. The style supplement will be published twice a year in a circulation of 490’000 copies jointly with the Das Magazin, being distributed as a supplement to Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung, and Tages-Anzeiger.