Broadcasting reform: ARD Radio programs have been reduced from 70 to 53.

The heads of government of the federal states approved a highly controversial state treaty to reform public broadcasting at the Prime Ministers’ Conference in Leipzig on Friday. The leading Rhineland-Palatinate state government later announced that the group agreed to “make ARD, ZDF and DeutschlandRadio more digital, more modern and more modern”. Its objective is to strengthen citizen acceptance of license-financed channels. The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Alexander Schweitzer (SPD), who is also Chairman of the State Broadcasting Commission, stressed: “Duplicate structures must be destroyed under the motto: There is more class in the program than quantity.” In administration.

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Specifically, after revising the original proposal, the “Reformed State Treaty” stipulates: The current 70 radio waves on ARD will be reduced to 53. “Digital offerings and specialized channels should be clustered and integrated,” Schweitzer explained“The content remains intact. Distribution channels are being examined; Digital usage often already exceeds linear usage.

Directors must decide on the details within the framework of their program’s autonomy. The head of the Broadcasting Commission explained that Arte should be developed into a European cultural platform. “And here it would make sense to also integrate 3sat’s cultural offerings in the future, however, the two broadcasters will not be merged.” Kika and digital offering Funk will be retained.

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One and ZDFneo should cooperate. The ZDF Television Council had previously complained that the planned restrictions on offers “do not do justice to the claim of offering a program for all social groups”. Removing the introduced channels “would fall short of the reform’s goal of improving the absurdity.”

ARD and ZDF need to be able to compete with Netflix

One of the priorities of the new state broadcasting treaty is to create a common digital platform for public broadcasters. ARD and ZDF have been working on a joint media library for years. “To be able to compete with the big American and Chinese platforms, public media must cooperate more closely with private media,” Menz said. The content of ARD and ZDF should also be available “on request” in private streaming portals such as JOIN or RTL+ to be accessed.

There was also an uproar over the topic of “press equality”. The draft stipulated that only when ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio reported on a topic in an audiovisual programme, they were allowed to write about it online. The Broadcasting Commission wanted to comply with pressure from press publishers. Public broadcasters therefore warned against a clear cut in text offerings on the Internet. As a compromise, the Prime Ministers have decided on a “positive list”. Mainz Media State Secretary Heike Raab (SPD) explained that this should regulate what institutions will be allowed to do online in the future. Real-time reporting for breaking news will continue to be allowed.

“System change” is coming in fees

The heads of government have also approved setting a limit on expenditure on sports rights. They have not yet been able to agree on an increase in broadcasting fees from 58 cents to 18.94 euros per month from January, which was implemented by the KEF Fee Commission. Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria in particular have repeatedly spoken out against implementing this recommendation. But there is a constitutional process behind this. Saxony-Anhalt therefore faced a legal setback before the Federal Constitutional Court in 2021, as the state had already opposed the increase recommended by the KEF.

According to Rhineland-Palatinate, the president has agreed in principle to a “system transition to a new financing model”. This may include automatic annual adjustments of contributions, as already discussed repeatedly. The Broadcasting Commission is expected to examine the legal questions and possible options and prepare a proposal by the next Prime Ministers’ Conference in December. The projects then have to be passed by state parliaments. If even one state parliament rejects the reform, the entire process fails. Otherwise, new requirements may come into force and be implemented from summer 2025.

(usz)

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