Funding shake-up sparks political storm over Czech public media
The Czech government on Monday made good on its promise to abolish license fees for public-service media and fund them directly from the state budget. The approved draft law, which will now go to the lower house, has raised a storm of controversy with opposition parties saying they will fight it every step of the way.
Under the draft proposal, presented by Culture Minister Oto Klempir, the public broadcasters will be allotted a set sum annually, indexed in line with inflation.
Czech Television would receive 5.74 billion crowns ($265 million) annually and Czech Radio 2.065 billion crowns. The figures are based on the broadcasters’ 2024 budgets, before last year's license-fee increase, which was the first in 17 years.
This amounts to a loss of around one billion crowns for Czech Television and roughly 400 million crowns for Czech Radio .
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš rejected suggestions that the government was seeking to undermine the independence of the broadcasters and bring them to heel through financial pressure. He argued that funding public broadcasters through the state budget would reduce the burden on citizens and businesses and force them to economize.
“Czech Radio and Czech television have made no effort to try to economize. All of Europe is economizing. We could talk for hours about the lay-offs at the BBC, about how Deutsche Welle has to economize, French public radio is cutting costs. But there is no sign of this at Czech Radio and Czech Television. Nobody controls them.”
In order to change this, the cabinet also backed a proposed amendment to the law which would give the Supreme Audit Office the right to review the finances of Czech Television and Czech Radio in the future and even retroactively.
Broadcasters warn of job cuts and reduced output
The heads of Czech Radio and Czech Television have warned of far-reaching consequences of the funding overhaul, saying they would be forced to cut up to 700 jobs and significantly restrict operations.
The head of Czech Television Hynek Chudárek described the plan as unacceptable and "almost destructive" for public-service broadcasting.
"The proposal is absolutely shocking. I did not expect it. I don't think any of us expected that we would return to 2024, before the license-fee amendment. We cannot work with this sum and provide the kind of service our audience is used to. This would significantly restrict production and result in significant lay-offs. We will now have to begin discussions with the Czech Television Council, since we would have to revise the already approved five-year plans” .
Czech Radio head Rene Zavoral voiced similar concerns.
"It will mean major savings and cuts for us not only in administration and operations, but above all it will affect listeners through lower production. We will have to reduce regional broadcasting, significantly cut production for children and young audiences, and we will have to reconsider premiere productions planned for this year and next. We will definitely have to discuss whether we can maintain the same network of foreign correspondents and reporters. But this whole issue is not just about cost-cutting. We are strictly against abolishing license fees because the current system guarantees the highest possible degree of autonomy.”
The head of Czech Radio called for constitutional safeguards to protect public broadcasters' independence adding that he hoped the proposal could still be amended in that respect.
Based on earlier calculations, Czech Television would have to sack between 350 and 500 employees, Czech Radio would have to lay-off 150 and 200 people.
The trade unions of both organizations are on strike alert and a warning strike is planned for Monday June 22.
Opposition promises “biggest obstruction tactics in modern history”
Opposition parties in Parliament have slammed the government’s plans saying they would fight the draft proposal as never before, employing whatever obstruction tactics are at their disposal.
František Talíř of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), chairman of the Parliamentary Media Committee, told reporters that he viewed the proposed law as a direct attack on the independence of Czech Television and Czech Radio.
"The key point here is that we are copying Slovakia's path," he said, expressing concern that future governments could alter funding levels from year to year and put political pressure on the institutions.
Andrea Hoffmannová of the Pirate Party, another member of the Parliamentary Media Committee, voiced similar criticism, saying that her party plans to challenge the legislation before the European Commission because it believes the proposal violates European rules on the predictability and stability of funds.
Civic Democratic Party leader Martin Kupka has accused the government of “mafia practices” in subjugating a critical press saying that if the opposition could not stop the approval of the law in Parliament it would not hesitate to challenge it in the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition remains unfazed by the storm and is determined to push through the proposed legislation on its 108-member majority in the lower house. It hopes to see it take effect as of January 2027.
