2024-10-10 08:29:00
What can be saved in the short, medium and long term in public broadcasting? A special report from the KEF Finance Commission provides answers to this question. However, the most important discovery cannot be summed up in one number.
The hearing on one of them is still ongoing Reform projectwhich aims to change public broadcasting, making it more cooperative, coordinated and compact. The Federal State Broadcasting Commission’s goal is to preserve the mission of broadcasters while simplifying structures. Which is not easy given the extremely complex system, especially in ARD. Prime ministers are expected to sign the reform bill at the end of October.
At the same time, a contribution increase of 58 cents to 18.94 euros, which will come into force at the turn of the year, must also be approved. It is unlikely that all 16 prime ministers will agree or that their state parliaments will approve the increase, given that almost half of the states had already signaled in advance that they did not support an increase. That’s why the Broadcasting Commission decided this last March KEF Commissionwhich calculates the financial needs of broadcasters, requested a special report, which is now available.
Essentially the question is what effects the different measures could have on the amount of the fee. In other words: if we eliminate X or Y, what does this mean for the contribution? In the short term, according to the core of KEF’s 80-page response, there really isn’t much savings potential. This roughly means the contribution period until the end of 2028. This is not surprising, given that large organizations usually conclude long-term contracts.
In the medium and long term, the document also informs, greater sums could be saved. For example with the merger and sale of real estate, the cancellation of programs (the current debate concerns the future of the thematic channels of ARD and ZDF), the FM distribution of radio stations and the resulting consolidation of the technical infrastructure.
In the medium and long term, Deutschlandradio could also give up one of its two locations in Cologne and Berlin. On the other hand, moving channels into the streaming world tends to cost more. Real money could be saved, for example, if the exemption of citizens from the radio and television license fee were not to be compensated by higher contributions for taxpayers. State media authorities could also be paid from another fund.
But the implementation of all these measures will still take time; ten years is certainly not an overly generous estimate. But another statement from the KEF special report is immediately important. Media politicians such as Oliver Schenk, the former head of the Saxon State Chancellery (since September member of the European Parliament for the CDU), had proposed keeping the broadcast license fee at 18.36 euros and financing revenue losses of institutions with reserves.
However, the financial experts at KEF clearly state that in the calculation of the increased contribution of 18.94 euros they had already included 1.1 billion euros in the reserves, so the sum is not available at all. Quote: “It follows that the special reserve cannot be used to justify a delayed entry into force of the contribution increase. There would therefore be no further additional funds.”
What does it mean? If more federal states do not give their consent to the contribution increase and the contribution does not increase accordingly, the broadcasters will most likely file another lawsuit in the Federal Constitutional Court to assert their right to the contribution increase. The KEF special report suggests significant savings potential, but until these are realized, further conflicts are very likely. You don’t even need expert advice to predict it.
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