Press release
Zattoo continues to offer Replay TV at no additional fee and introduces Skip-Feature for TV commercials in Switzerland
Common Tariff 12
Zurich, 14. September 2022 – Starting October 4, 2022, the industry agreement that broadcasters and distributors agreed upon with the new Common Tariff 12 will officially be implemented. The TV streaming provider Zattoo will continue to offer 7 days of Replay TV for its Ultimate and Premium subscription in Switzerland. Prices for both subscription models will remain stable and will not be increased. With the Ultimate subscription, Zattoo is also improving the user experience for Replay TV and introducing a Skip-Feature for skipping TV commercials.
Last year, TV broadcasters and distributors reached an industry agreement as part of the so-called "Common Tariff 12" (GT12) on a legal framework that will ensure the future availability of time-shifted TV content in Switzerland. This is intended to compensate for the advertising revenue lost when viewers fast-forward through commercial breaks.
Zattoo will continue to offer 7 days of Replay TV at no additional fee
The industry agreement provides for either additional advertising or a higher license fee for the continued use of Replay TV, which distributors will pay to the stations. Each distributor decides for itself how this agreement is implemented on its own platform. Under the agreement, Zattoo will continue to offer 7 days of Replay TV at no additional fee to users in Switzerland. This means that Zattoo will not increase prices for its own subscription models and they will remain at the same rate of CHF 20 per month for Ultimate and CHF 12 per month for Premium. Zattoo will not charge an additional fee for Replay TV.
"As part of the industry agreement, we continue to offer our users a comprehensive and convenient TV service without increasing the price. With the introduction of the new Skip-Feature provided with the Ultimate subscription, we are even improving the user experience for Replay TV and time-shifted content," explains Constanze Gilles, General Manager Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) at Zattoo.
New Skip-Feature for skipping TV commercials
With the Ultimate subscription, Zattoo will continue to provide 7 days of commercial-free Replay TV at no additional fee. This is possible because the monthly license fee for replay use under the industry agreement will now be paid by Zattoo and not passed on to subscribers. Zattoo is now also improving the user experience for time-shifted content in the Ultimate subscription model by integrating a new Skip-Feature: As soon as the usual TV commercial break starts in the current stream, a Skip-Button is displayed, allowing the entire commercial break to be skipped. The Skip-Feature is available for all stations that have signed the industry agreement. Some stations may not have yet completed the technical implementation at the time of launch. However, this will be completed as soon as possible. For all other stations, the commercial break can be skipped as usual.
Premium with short commercial clips instead of the usual commercial break
In the future, there will also be no additional fee for time-shifted content with the Premium subscription. Instead, a commercial clip no longer than 7 seconds in length is displayed before the start of a program on Replay TV. If a program is paused, a static advertisement is displayed during this time. For time-shifted broadcasts, as soon as viewers reach the station's TV commercial break and they want to fast-forward through it, they will be shown a short interlude of commercial clips with a maximum length of 130 seconds. As a result, even with the premium subscription, you do not have to watch the entire commercial that may last for several minutes, but just a few short spots. Under Common Tariff 12, all revenue from the additional advertising slots is fully passed on to the TV stations.
The changes to the Ultimate and Premium subscription apply to all broadcasters that have signed the joint industry agreement. You can find details about participating stations here. For all other channels, the use of Replay TV remains unchanged, including the ability to fast-forward through commercials.
For users of the ad-financed Zattoo Free model, nothing will change in the future as a result of Common Tariff 12, as Replay TV will still not be available.
You can find more information about the implementation of Common Tariff 12 at Zattoo here.