Increase in the license fee due to higher energy costs? Now nobody wants it

by time news
opinion film producers

Increase in the license fee due to higher energy costs? Too absurd to be true

A sign indicating filming on the set of the RTL TV series 'Everything that counts' in the MMC Studios.  Cologne, November 2nd, 2020 A sign indicating filming on the set of the RTL TV series 'Everything that counts' in the MMC Studios.  Cologne, November 2nd, 2020

Everything on the set is also becoming more expensive. Or not?

Quelle: picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress

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According to a newspaper report, German film and television producers are to demand a “temporary” increase in broadcasting fees to offset their increased costs. A good reason to think about absurd proposals.

EThere are suggestions that are so absurd that with a bit of bad will one could take them for true. This genre could include a claim that Björn Böhning is said to have made. Böhning recently became head of the Producers’ Alliance, an influential association of German film and series producers.

According to a report by the “FAZ”, he is said to have campaigned for a “short-term” increase in the broadcasting fee in order to compensate for the higher costs for producers – for electricity, fuel and salaries, for example. The association therefore contacted the chairman of the commission to determine the financial requirements of public-law institutions (KEF).

At first glance, this seems plausible, as the KEF chairman Martin Detzel had just given a speech at the annual meeting of the producers’ alliance – and there presented the main features of the state treaty-regulated procedure for determining the broadcasting fee.

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At second glance, however, the alleged Böhning claim seems implausible – because when Detzel explained the procedure, it should have become clear to all participants that particular interests should not be given priority. The independent commission is there on behalf of the federal states to determine the financial needs of the broadcasters. And not about the financial needs of German film producers.

Especially since such a demand would be quite instinctive, because the increased costs apply to all market participants – and above all to the contributors themselves. With regard to the rising cost of living, there was recently a proposal from the CSU to suspend the broadcasting fee for a period of time. The state of Saxony-Anhalt previously refused to approve the increase in the contribution (the Federal Constitutional Court then enforced the increase by decision).

In short: both the KEF and the producer alliance claim that they have no knowledge of such a requirement. Which shows that there are also suggestions that are so absurd that they were actually never made. Or they were immediately forgotten because you have to forget them.

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