The smaller populations of French-speaking Suisse Romande, Italian-speaking Svizzera italiana and Rumansch-speaking Svizra rumantscha mean that licence fee revenues in these regions are not sufficient to produce radio and television services of the same quality as in German-speaking Switzerland. This is where the financial idée suisse comes into play: all fee and advertising income goes into a single national pot and is allocated to the regional Enterprise Units according to a "magic formula" devised by SRG SSR.

This staggered financial equalisation system means that the Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) and Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR) Enterprise Units receive a disproportionately high share of total resources relative to audience numbers, enabling them to offer competitive services in French, Italian and Rumansch. If this system were not in place, the television market in Western Switzerland and the Ticino, in particular, would be dominated by French and Italian broadcasters which enjoy many times the resources of their Swiss counterparts.