Switzerland’s government is proceeding with its plans to abandon all analog FM transmission there by the end of 2026, as it migrates to a DAB+ digital radio broadcast infrastructure.
The country’s National Council’s Transport and Telecommunications committee had submitted a proposal on July 1 for the Swiss government to halt its plan to end FM broadcasts. The committee sought to extend current FM licenses and even open a call for new stations.
According to the Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes, the country’s Federal Council rejected the motion. It said that the country’s sunset plan dates back to 2014 and that private broadcasters in Switzerland were originally on board with a migration plan to end FM transmissions by 2024.
Ultimately, the Swiss government extended the deadline to the end of next year. Most of the country’s stations have been simulcasting on FM and DAB for more than 15 years, according to WorldDAB.
As a result, through the end of 2026, “broadcasters have the opportunity to find individual solutions to successfully migrate to digital,” the Swiss Federal Council said, according to 20 Minutes.
The Switzerland National Council’s court will have an opportunity to decide on the motion rejected by the Federal Council.
“Catastrophic” listenership declines cited
The country’s public broadcaster, Swiss Broadcasting Corp. (SRG SSR), led the way by converting entirely to DAB+ at the beginning of 2025. WorldDAB said that a small number of private broadcasters also did so at the time.
The transport and telecommunications committee argued that a “catastrophic” drop in listenership for SRG SSR is reason to slow down. It pointed to data collected by Swiss-based research firm Mediapulse that showed a 25% decline in listenership since the public broadcaster deactivated its FM broadcasts.
The committee fears private stations sunsetting FM will push listeners to foreign stations.
“In French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, this deactivation has already caused a migration to French and Italian radio stations,” the committee said, according to 20 Minutes.
SRG SSR said that it anticipated the listenership drop and that with any new transition in technology, it takes time to adapt. The public broadcaster expects its audience to stabilize by the end of 2026.
The Swiss Federal Council said that following the SRG SSR’s deactivation of FM, many cars in the country added DAB+ capability, which it said will limit the loss of audience for private stations.
The council also argued that it would require a “disproportionate amount” of effort to allocate new FM frequencies using “outdated” infrastructure, as the transport and infrastructure committee had requested.
