BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The Prime Ministers of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, Dietmar Woidke (SPD) and Reiner Haseloff (CDU), are demanding financial planning from ZDF for the next few years without the associated increasing broadcasting fee. Both country heads are also members of the ZDF board of directors and, according to the Saxony-Anhalt State Chancellery, stated in a minute of the meeting on Friday: It is pointed out that trust in public broadcasting “is currently severely shaken and in particular the acceptance of the amount of the license fee is constantly falling”.
One is of the opinion that ZDF must take this into account when registering its financial requirements for the years 2025 to 2028. “Therefore, ZDF should not register any additional requirements in the overall result that would lead to an increase in the monthly broadcasting fee.” Necessary requirements should therefore be counter-financed by savings elsewhere.
At the same time, the two state leaders pointed out that a majority in 16 state parliaments for an increase in the monthly broadcasting fee cannot be expected at the moment.
The background to this is the financial requirements submitted by ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio to an independent finance commission. This is an important step in determining the amount of the license fee from 2025. The broadcasters did not name specific amounts of their registrations on Friday. In the next few months, the commission will examine the plans; in the past, the committee made cuts in many places.
At the beginning of 2024, the KEF (commission for determining the financial needs of broadcasters) could make a recommendation for the amount of the broadcasting fee that citizens and companies in Germany pay. The federal states have the last word in the matter, but must follow the KEF recommendation closely.
The broadcasting fee is currently EUR 18.36 per month. The current contribution period runs until the end of 2024. Every year, more than 8 billion euros in broadcasting contributions are collected to finance the houses./rin/DP/nas