Government plans to shift public media funding to state budget

The governing coalition wants to abolish the monthly fees paid by citizens and companies for Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (ČRo) starting in January, and instead finance both public service media outlets from the state budget. They are expected to receive less than this year’s projected revenue from fees. Minister of Culture Oto Klempíř (Motorists party) told journalists today that Czech Television should receive 5.74 billion CZK next year. That is about one billion less than it will collect from licence fee payers this year. Czech Radio will receive 2.07 billion CZK from the state, which is about 400 million less than it is expected to obtain from fees this year. The management of ČT and ČRo have warned against the change in funding, while the parliamentary opposition speaks of the liquidation of both media outlets and is preparing to obstruct the debate on the government’s proposal.

According to the draft law on public service media, funding will be regularly adjusted for inflation, up to a maximum of five percent. Additional sources of income are to include advertising revenue or the sale of rights.