Fewer radio programs, fewer specialty channels: The federal states are pushing ahead with their reform of public broadcasting. Next week, the state premiers could submit a preliminary draft for online consultation, according to the state broadcasting commission. The states are obviously ruling out an increase in the broadcasting fee on January 1, 2025, because they are initially hoping for effects from the broadcasting reform, which could come into force in summer 2025.
According to a recommendation from the Commission for the Determination of the Financial Requirements of Broadcasting Institutions (KEF), the contribution is actually supposed to increase by 58 cents from EUR 18.36 per month to EUR 18.94 per month at the turn of the year. Households and companies pay the contribution to finance the public media houses of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio. The federal states must closely follow the recommendation. But some state leaders have already signaled that they will not support an increase – and say, among other things, that there is not enough support for it among the population. The background to this is also the crisis at the broadcaster RBB two years ago. The accusations were about waste at the top.
With the broadcasting reform, the states want to make the public broadcasters more efficient, avoid duplicate structures and improve control. ARD and ZDF are working on synergies in parallel. The states want to reduce the number of radio programs to around 50 and reduce the number of special interest channels by four or possibly five. If the state premiers and all state parliaments agree in the coming months, the reform treaty could probably come into force in the summer of 2025. In a subsequent step, the states then want to deal with financing. (dpa/sag)
