Questions and Answers

Public reception

What is the JT 3a and what is its purpose?

Owners of restaurants, hotels and retail outlets which enable their customers to receive radio or TV broadcasts can acquire the requisite rights in Switzerland simply and conveniently from a single overall body. SUISA grants these rights on behalf of all 5 collective rights management organisations ProLitteris (word), SUISSIMAGE (film), SSA (theatre, musical), SWISSPERFORM (performers/producers) on the terms set out in joint tariff 3a (JT 3a) for all repertoires (music, word, film, image). Were it not for this tariff, the businesses would be obliged to negotiate the rights individually with the rightholders for every broadcast. This would be impractical, with the result that radio and TV reception in restaurants, hotels or shops would neither be possible or permissible. Any business that foregoes radio and television reception obviously has nothing to pay.

How does the tariff function and how is it graduated?

The JT 3a envisages a monthly flat rate, split according to radio (CHF 16.–) and television (CHF 17.30) levied by Billag on behalf of SUISA. Businesses with a total area exceeding 1000m2 make a supplementary payment in addition to this basic payment. If we assume the average size of a hotel room to be 20m2, a hotel with more than 50 rooms will exceed 1000m2 in area and a supplementary payment of CHF 52.50 is due. This means that there is no change for hotels with less than 1000m2 (incl. the rooms equipped with radio or television). This area also includes the public rooms in which TV receivers are used. Those businesses paying the flat rate tariff are also entitled to provide background music from audio media or the Internet in addition to the broadcast reception. This is the reason why rooms in which background music is provided (such as the lobby, toilets, garage) are also included in the area.

Who collects the authors' rights royalties?

The remuneration due for this utilisation is levied by Billag on behalf of SUISA. Since Billag already collects the SRG license fees for commercial utilisation, this is more cost-effective than operating an in-house collection department for the JT 3a.

SUISA and ProLitteris are causing quite a stir by going after small businesses. A charge is even to be imposed on listening to the radio in a truck cab. Why are the collective rights management organisations chasing after small businesses?

The collective rights management organisations have a statutory obligation: they are required to manage the rights of authors throughout Switzerland and to negotiate, collect and distribute the remunerations due to them. The principle of equal treatment is also enshrined in law (Art. 45/2). This means that when collecting monies, all users must be treated the same. Why should the dentist have to pay something for radio reception in the practice, but not the taxi driver? A business which does not want any music can do without the radio or music centre.

If guests listen to radio or watch TV in their hotel room, this is surely a private matter. Why is the hotelier now being called upon to pay an authors’ rights charge for this?

The hotel guest has no personal liability in this respect. However, the hotelier who provides radios or televisions in the guest rooms is required to acquire the necessary rights for this purpose and remunerate the authors. A hotel that provides television for its customers does so for commercial considerations: it enhances the value of the hotel rooms, reflected in higher room prices. In truth, this is a long overdue payment. Previously however, the hoteliers always objected. The Federal Arbitration Board has now decided against them on this matter. This decision is about to be implemented.

The existing JT 3a still applies up to the end of 2013. Why do the collective rights management organisations now want to change the rules during the current term?

The existing JT 3a does not exclude the hotel rooms from the tariff. Hotel operators and collective rights management organisations were unable to agree as to whether the hotel guest rooms fall within it and count towards the relevant area. For this reason, the area of the hotel guest rooms were not previously taken into account.
On 26 March 2010, the Federal Arbitration Board decided that radio and television in hotel and hospital rooms does not represent remuneration-free private reception. Were it not for the action of the hotel operator, the guests would be unable to enjoy the broadcasts. The hotel or hospital operator providing the reception facility must therefore acquire the relevant rights and pay a royalty.

No doubt that is another Swiss special rule or invention?

All over Europe, hotel operators that provide televisions in their guest rooms pay royalties for the purpose. Switzerland has simply caught up with its neighbours in this respect, whereby under the tariff currently applicable here, only hotels with an area in excess of 1000m2 (incl. guest rooms) are affected.

The authors' rights societies are insatiable and are cashing in several times over for the same content: from the SRG, the cable networks and other signal distributors, from the hoteliers. Now the last-mentioned are being called upon to pay even more. Surely there is something fishy going on?

Copyright is made up of a bundle of individual partial rights: the broadcasting right, the retransmission right, the right to make publicly accessible etc. Permission is required and remuneration due for each right that is utilised. Sometimes a number of rights are utilised simultaneously for a single activity; there are entire chains of utilisations. There are no double payments but sometimes two rights are utilised and two remunerations due.
An example of this was given when revising the Federal Copyright Law in the Council of States. “Television viewing in a hotel room”: SRG puts on a television programme. It pays broadcasting rights for this purpose (...). Cablecom then delivers the programme into the home. This is a retransmission right, a separate right. Finally a public reception of television broadcasts licence is required in the restaurant or hotel so that I can watch the broadcast. This, too, is a right.” (MP Hansruedi Stadler, Official Bulletin of the Council of States, 19.12.2006, page 1213). This means that various organisations each pay a remuneration for different rights, but noone pays twice.
This corresponds to the fundamental principle according to which the author is entitled to share in the “economic fruits” that others gain from the utilisation of his work. Everyone in this chain profits from the author’s work; he is therefore equally entitled to share the benefits as well.

What will be the additional costs for a hotelier if the area of the hotel rooms is included in the calculation?

For hotels with up to 50 rooms, everything stays the same and no additional remuneration whatsoever is due. For hotels with an area of more than 1000m2 (incl. the guest rooms), a lump-sum additional remuneration of CHF 52.50 is due. Depending on the number of rooms, this is scarcely more than CHF 1.– per month and room.

Which hotels are potentially affected by this rule?

This rule affects large hotels, but not small hotels with an area of up to 1000m2 (including guest rooms).

The collective rights management organisations are only looking for more money with which to finance their excessive administrative costs. What actually happens to the revenues from this tariff?

Collective rights management organisations are a connecting link between the users – here the hotel operators – and the rightholders: on the one hand, they provide a central point for the acquisition of all rights and enable hotel operators to offer public reception of television broadcasts in their guest rooms and collect a remuneration in return; on the other hand, they distribute this revenue to all rightholders whose works are shown on television and are thus watched by hotel guests. The rightholders are entitled to be fairly remunerated for the utilisation of their works and performances. That is perfectly normal in our property ownership and economic system. It enables further creative work. Copyright is therefore also the best form of cultural promotion and a guarantee of cultural diversity.

What needs to be entered in the Billag questionnaire? Item 2 states: “Total area of all rooms used within the meaning of the Federal Copyright Law; total m2 radio and/or television.”

As mentioned in question 2, the tariff is based on the area in which the public reception of television broadcasts takes place. This area should be calculated including the guest rooms in which radios and or televisions are available for the reception of broadcasts as well as all rooms with background music.