The major telecom providers largely divide the Swiss TV market among themselves. For local providers, utilities and cable networks, the room for manoeuvre is shrinking. Why it is still worth fighting for your own TV offering, and what it takes.
The Swiss TV market is on the move: a handful of large telecom providers bundle an ever-growing share of TV households. What is left is spread across dozens of cable network operators, utilities and municipalities.
The question that arises: is this a trend that will continue, or are there reasons why local providers have a future in the TV market?
Triple play can decide customer loyalty
End customers rarely choose a TV provider in isolation. They choose bundles: internet, telephony, TV. Those who cannot offer a complete package do not lose because of poor quality but because the convenience is missing. A provider that delivers fast internet but has to refer customers to a third party for TV is at a structural disadvantage by comparison. When the overall offering is right, customers are happy to choose regional – everything from one source they know.
The uncomfortable question: can the product keep up?
Proximity, trust and local roots are real strengths. But they have limits. End customers compare their TV experience with what they know from the big platforms: modern apps on all devices, Replay, intuitive operation, fast updates. Anyone offering a technically outdated solution instead will gradually lose their customers’ trust, no matter how good the personal service is.
This means local providers need to offer a TV product that matches the national providers’ offerings in both functionality and look. For a long time, that was a question of budget. Today it is above all a question of choosing the right partner.
Regional roots still add value
Local utilities and cable networks have something the large telecom providers cannot offer: proximity, personal contact, local roots and short lines of communication. In many municipalities, the local provider is part of the infrastructure, not simply an interchangeable service provider.
This relationship has real value. But on its own it is not enough if the product offering does not keep up. End customers are loyal as long as the alternative is not clearly better. A modern, well-functioning TV offering under your own brand can close exactly the gap that would otherwise become a reason to switch.
The hurdle is not the technology but getting started
For a long time, building your own TV offering was only realistic with high investment and large minimum volumes. That kept many smaller providers out of the market or pushed them into dependencies that were hardly economically viable.
Today there are alternatives. Whitelabel models make it possible to offer a professional TV product under your own brand without having to run the entire technical infrastructure yourself. The barriers to entry have fallen considerably, and scaling adapts to actual customer numbers.
Diversity is not a luxury but what drives us
Switzerland thrives on diversity. In energy supply, in its political structure, in business. There are good reasons why it should stay that way in the telecommunications market too. End customers benefit from choice, local roots and providers who know their region.
That is exactly why we at Netstream build our TV platform to be accessible and economically viable for smaller providers too. We are convinced that a professional TV offering should not be a question of company size. And we consistently stay in the background: your brand, your customers, your offering.
