Television in Switzerland began in 1949 with an official delegation of Swiss technicians (and some staff members of General Electric) watching an experimental program, broadcast from Torino in Italy about 90 miles away. The first programs produced in Switzerland, in 1953, were received in Zurich only. By 1955, there were 8,600 television sets in Switzerland, 2,300 of them in public rooms and 6,300 in private households. In 1994, there were 2.6 million television license fee holders in Switzerland.

     Television, as developed in the 1950s and I 960s, was meant to be a tool of public communication and education. The technical objective was reception in all Swiss households (a goal still not attained because of topography), but television broadcast had a political and social mission as well. "Audiovision," as it was termed, was supposed to play an important part in the national integration of different languages, regions, religions, generations, and ways of living. Since there was, until 1992, only one network officially assigned with the mission to broadcast television programs, politicians of all parties kept an eye on content and on those responsible for developing and managing the broadcasting system.

     The date July 20, 1953, marked the official beginning of Swiss broadcasting. Programming that night consisted of a demonstration of traditional Swiss woodcrafts and the recitation of a poem, "The Blind." Older Swiss citizens often remember broadcasts of live sports events that were viewed in crowded restaurants rather than at home. At the time, television was a social event.

     Early viewers were especially interested in nature programs. And though educational programs rarely dealt with social problems, news and documentaries were something else. "Objectivity" was the key word during the 1970s, and some television programmers, labeled as left-wing radicals by more conservative parties, were constantly accused of undermining Swiss democracy.

     When the French- and Italian-speaking communities received their own television programs, news was still produced in one place, with different crews using the same facilities and sharing a single set until 1982. Heidi Abel began announcing programs in 1954 and went on to present many different kinds of programs. She finally found her place as a talk show host covering the most sensitive topics with wit and courage.

     Fiction programs, expensive to produce, did not develop for some time. Early production included Swiss plays, mostly comedies, that were adapted for the stage and televised rather than being true television productions. All other types of fiction required co production with wealthier neighbors. Some miniseries and series have been developed, including Die Sechs Kummer­ buben, Heidi, and Die Direktorin. The animated children's series Pingu achieved worldwide fame.

     In the 1990s, family sitcoms based on American examples have become popular in all regions. In the German-speaking region, the popular program is Fascht e Familie, while in the French region, the favorite is La petit Famille. It is worth noting that some of the local stations have begun to produce experimental fiction. The Eden Family, for example, is a "dark" family sitcom, a parody of The Addams Family in which the characters live in a gay community.

     The Swiss Broadcasting Company (SBC) is still organized as a private nonprofit association, not as a state institution. It is supported with license fees paid every month. Advertising on television was introduced in 1965 and proved to be a most important additional source of income.

     The system appears as complex as its political structure and its somewhat fragmented cultural identity. Radio and television stations are commercially or non commercially organized. Yet the public broadcaster SBC (radio and television) is still by far the biggest distributor of programs, beating other (foreign) stations in ratings. The SBC provides programs for a mainly German-speaking audience (64 percent) as well as the considerably smaller French-speaking (19 percent) and Italian-speaking (8 percent) communities. There is also a tiny Romansh-speaking audience in the east of the country (0.6 percent in 1990) counting on at least one weekly newsmagazine being broadcast. There are four SBC television channels and nearly a dozen SBC radio channels all together, all of them distributed terrestrially. Seventy-six percent of all Swiss television and radio households are cabled.

     A considerable number of small, local television stations and/or text services were registered by 1995, most of them experimental and with very limited frequency ranges each. This domestic competition has been less influential than that caused by international developments such as the ongoing deregulation process in the European television market. More and more commercial television stations have emerged throughout Switzerland since the 1980s, changing viewing habits and taking a toll on the ratings. When legislation changed in 1992, allowing private television broadcasters to find (or at least search for) their specific segments in a more open market, those broadcasters were waiting in the wings, thus urging the public broadcaster SRG to develop market-oriented strategies as well.