Czech public media heads call for talks on ending licence fees

The director-generals of Czech Television and Czech Radio, Hynek Chudárek and René Zavoral, have called on Culture Minister Ota Klempíř (Motorists‘ Party) to establish a working group to allow discussions over the government’s planned changes to the funding of public service media. They said the group should include media experts and other stakeholders. The appeal was made in a joint press release issued on Wednesday.

The governing coalition of ANO, SPD and the Motorists‘ Party plans to abolish television and radio licence fees and move the funding of public broadcasters to the state budget. The coalition has already agreed that the change would take effect from January 2027. The government argues that the reform would reduce the financial burden on households and businesses.

Chudárek and Zavoral said licence fees remain their preferred funding model, which has proved itself over the past 33 years. They stressed that the issue is not a technical detail but a fundamental condition for the independence and credibility of public service media.