Senate bill changing collection of license fees withdrawn

A Senate bill aimed at changing the way license fees are collected for Czech Television and Czech Radio has been withdrawn. The initiator of the amendment, Senator Jan Veleba, said he was removing it from the upper house’s agenda as it required deeper study by his fellow legislators. Mr. Veleba wants paying the license fee to become optional, with citizens also having the choice of contributing the equivalent amount to charities or arts institutions. President Miloš Zeman has put forward a similar idea recently and questioned whether Czech Television was fulfilling its role as a public service broadcaster.