IPTV Switzerland: licensed providers, costs and legality at a glance

The table shows the main legal routes to live television over the internet. The data comes from the providers' own websites (state: October 2026). Channels and prices change, so only the provider's site is authoritative.

The terms are mixed up constantly. The table separates the four ways television reaches Swiss homes today:

Zattoo's 2026 survey puts internet TV at 71% of households: 39% get IPTV from a telecom operator and 32% use a TV streaming service. Cable (30%) and satellite (9%) keep slipping, and for 37% IPTV is already the main way to watch.

Zattoo sells streaming itself, so read these as industry survey data. The tables, the device figures and the caveats are in How the Swiss watch TV

The right option depends less on price than on where you are starting from. The table helps with the first decision:

Swisscom, Sunrise, Salt and Zattoo all publish English versions of their sites, so comparing the offers is possible without German, French or Italian. Before you sign, check two things: whether the channels you watch are on the provider's channel list, and that the contract terms you accept are in a language you can read.

Do not assume that a channel from your home country is included. Swiss packages are built around the SRG programmes plus German, French and Italian channels, and extra channels are often sold as language or international packages. Zattoo, for example, lists international packages as add-ons. Write down the ten channels you actually watch and check each one in the public channel list.

Whatever route you take, the radio and television fee is separate: since 2019 it is a device-independent fee, and in principle each Swiss household pays it, according to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). An IPTV subscription neither replaces it nor changes it.

The channel list is the core of every offer. Swiss TV packages include the SRG programmes (SRF 1, SRF zwei, RTS 1, RTS 2, RSI LA 1, RSI LA 2), many German, French and Italian channels and Swiss private broadcasters.

Pay and sports channels are usually sold as add-on or language packages. Swisscom lists its blue TV subscriptions at 150+ channels (blue TV S), 290+ (M) and 330+ (L and XL), Sunrise has language packages and Salt has international ones. Compare channel lists not by the total number but by the ten channels you watch and by the count of HD and Full HD channels: Zattoo, for instance, states 121 Full HD and 238 HD channels for Ultimate.

A single stream needs less than most people assume. What counts is the sum of simultaneous streams plus whatever the rest of the household is doing. Zattoo's support centre gives these figures:

Fluctuations show up as buffering, stutter or dropouts, mostly in the evening peak. Zattoo advises connecting the TV with a network cable rather than Wi-Fi and, if Wi-Fi is unavoidable, using the 5 GHz band. 4K needs a good deal more than Full HD, depending on the service; Netflix, for instance, recommends 15 Mbit/s for Ultra HD.

Not necessarily. Most smart TVs, streaming sticks and Apple TVs run the providers' apps directly. A box is mainly an operator product: the Sunrise TV Box belongs to Up TV L, and the Salt TV Box is built on Android TV and comes with Salt Home for new customers. Swisscom says a subscription can run on up to five TVs (Swisscom TV-Box, Apple TV 4K or smart TV) with the Multiroom Max option.

Which hardware fits which setup is covered in the guide to IPTV devices; the software side, from player apps to M3U playlists, in IPTV apps and players. The two most searched apps have their own guides: IPTV Smarters Pro and Smart IPTV.

With the operators TV usually comes as part of the internet or mobile subscription. Add-ons are listed separately, above all extra boxes: a second TV needs an additional Sunrise TV Box.

Pure streaming services show their prices on their own pages. Zattoo Premium and Ultimate start with 30 free days and can be cancelled monthly. Zattoo Free costs nothing but is limited to 10 hours per month on smart TV. To try an offer before paying, use the checklist in IPTV trial in Switzerland.

Prices move, which is why each figure carries its date. What this site offers itself is shown on the IPTV pricing in Switzerland page.

Watching TV for free is possible lawfully, within clear limits. The full comparison, with trials, is in Free IPTV in Switzerland:

Licensing is tied to territory, which limits what you can watch away from home. Swisscom says that abroad the blue TV app lets you watch recordings and films offline, while most live TV is blocked for licensing reasons. With the Multiroom Max option you can also use blue TV at a second address in Switzerland, such as a holiday home. For other providers, the terms of the subscription tell you what works outside Switzerland.

The technology is legal; what counts is whether the provider holds the rights to its channels. Operating or reselling services without a licence is punishable. Which provisions of the copyright act apply, what the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property says about private viewing and what resellers risk is covered, with sources, in IPTV illegal or legal in Switzerland.