The new RTS Lausanne-Ecublens site will accommodate 950 people,
Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott
The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and its French-language service RTS have inaugurated a new TV and radio production site near Lausanne in western Switzerland.
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The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new building, located on the campus of the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), took place on Thursday in the presence of SBC president, Jean-Michel Cina, SBC Director Susanne Wille, Vaud councillor Nuria Gorrite, the mayor of Ecublens, Christian Maeder, and EPFL President Anna Fontcuberta i Morral.
“This is a historic moment for French-speaking Switzerland and for RTS. It marks a decisive step in our ability to reinvent public service broadcasting,” declared Pascal Crittin, director of RTS. “This new site reflects an ambition: to ensure the long-term viability of RTS in a rapidly changing and increasingly digital world.” The facility was financed by the sale of the former buildings it replaces.
Five years of construction
After five years of construction work, RTS broadcast its first radio programmes from the Lausanne-Ecublens site on November 4. Option Musique was the first channel to use the new premises. In the coming months, RTS Première, RTS Espace 2, and RTS Couleur 3 channels, as well as the RTSInfo web newsroom, will also leave the Sallaz radio station in Lausanne to relocate to the new premises near the lake.
The move will take place progressively until 2027 for the TV news, sports, and culture departments. The Vaud regional office and the garage for broadcast buses and vehicles will also be located at the new site.
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Open to the public
Meanwhile, RTS will maintain a presence in Geneva, where it will rent the tower and continue to produce digital programmes, fiction, documentaries, and TV magazine programmes, among others. RTS has eight regional offices in other French-speaking cantons, as well as journalists based in Zurich and Ticino.
The Lausanne-Ecublens site will accommodate 950 people in a usable area of nearly 25,000 m² (including parking). Designed to encourage interaction with the public, the site will house studios for live broadcasts (music, entertainment) and a foyer with exhibition spaces, as well as a restaurant open to the public. An open weekend for the public will also be organised in 2026.
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
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