Broadcasting fees: ARD and ZDF going to court for increase

ARD and ZDF are going to the Federal Constitutional Court to increase the broadcasting fee to 18.94 euros. The constitutional complaint is directed against the fact that the federal states have not yet taken the appropriate decision and that the increase is therefore not possible on time for January 1, 2025, as announced by the public broadcaster.

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The Prime Minister wants to discuss again in his meeting in mid-December. ARD and ZDF are now increasing pressure regarding the constitutional complaint. Deutschlandradio is not involved in the complaint.

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The broadcast fee is currently 18.36 euros per month. In total, approximately nine billion euros are raised for public broadcasting. Financial experts – the Commission to Determine the Financial Needs of Broadcasters (KEF) – recommended an increase of 58 cents for the next contribution period from 2025 to 2028. As per the procedure, the federal states have to follow it closely.

This is what the broadcasters say

“This step is difficult for us, but we cannot accept a violation of procedure,” Kai Gniffke, president of ARD and director of SWR, said in the statement. “We take responsibility over the next four years for the long-term security of non-state funding and thus for the freedom of journalism as a component of broadcasting freedom. This is regulated by law and the laws must be followed. The law And compliance with the law knows no compromise.”

ZDF director Norbert Himmler said: “Our freedom of reporting rises and falls along with the freedom of our financing.” A look at the world’s troubled spots and the growing uncertainty in Germany once again shows how valuable public broadcasting is as a guarantee of reliable information for society.

Deutschlandradio, based in Cologne and Berlin, said it was not filing a complaint because KEF’s recommendation does not provide for an increase in the share of broadcasting fees for the stations Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Deutschlandfunk Nova and is therefore “not burdened” with fee adjustments. There will be shortage.

The Federal Constitutional Court has already been involved once

The procedure for determining the contributions to be paid by households and companies is precisely defined in the State Treaty. The last time about four years ago, public broadcasters approached the highest constitutional court in Karlsruhe because Saxony-Anhalt spoke out against the increase.

At that time, the judges put the federal state in its place and ordered contributions to increase from 17.50 euros to the current 18.36 euros at the end of summer 2021. It is unclear when the Karlsruhe judge will rule on the latest constitutional complaint.

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This time too, several prime ministers – including those of Saxony-Anhalt, Bavaria and Brandenburg – made it clear from the start that they were against the increase. Some critics are calling for a greater willingness to reform on the part of media companies, and they are also talking about a loss of trust as a result of the RBB scandal. And it is argued that public broadcasters have sufficient reserves that can be used until the reforms take effect – KEF again refutes this.

Supporters of the increase say the reforms will only deliver savings over time. Therefore, households should be allowed to increase contributions – even in line with inflation. The problem: All prime ministers and then all state parliaments must agree to the increase in contributions. If only one country says ‘no’, everything remains status quo.

There is very little chance of change from January 1

With little time left until the end of the year, it is almost impossible that there will be an increase in broadcast fees on January 1, 2025. Additionally, prime ministers such as Rainer Hasselhoff (CDU) from Saxony-Anhalt and Markus Söder (CSU) from Bavaria recently renewed their abstention.

In October, the country’s leaders decided on broadcasting reform with changes to the station structure. However, due to differences they postponed the financial issue. However, they announced that they wanted to change the way contributions are determined for ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio. There was talk of “system change”. There will be a separate financing mechanism through contributions.

There will be no change in the broadcast fee and the KEF recommendation should remain central. State governments and state parliaments should also continue to have the right to participate.

(MKI)

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