In the midst of the inflation crisis, the decision of the Constitutional Court caused a bang. As reported, the judges in the cloak – after a public law lawsuit – decided on the so-called streaming gap that watching ORF online should no longer be free. So the law should be enacted next year. This naturally leads to a political dispute.
The FPÖ strongly criticizes the judiciary and calls for the GIS to be abolished altogether. NEOS and the small government partner Greens can envision some sort of – lower – household contribution (ie everyone pays whether they watch, listen or stream). In the “Krone” interview, ORF Director General Roland Weißmann does not want to “do” anything with politics: “We are available with expertise on different models.”
In any case, state radio would lose only five to six million euros this year through the “streaming hole”. “But it’s not about more money, but about long-term planning through a financing guarantee,” says Weißmann. In addition, this decision would also be good for other media, “because journalism on the internet costs something”.
The director of the Association of Austrian Newspapers (VÖZ), Gerald Grünberger, also welcomes the VfGH ruling “because it was again stated that the program fee to be paid and the corresponding scope of the services of the digital ORF offer are not clearly regulated enough”. . At the same time, Grünberger criticizes the competitive advantage of 700 million (!) GIS fees per year and warns against drastic cuts in media diversity.
Source: Krone
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