The Slovak Parliament has abolished the license fee and replaced it with a direct state payment that will be reset annually from July 2023. A majority of three ruling conservative-populist parties and the opposition liberals ignored criticism of the new arrangement of media representatives and the social-democratic opposition on Thursday.
They had warned that the public radio and television channel RTVS, which had been suffering from acute financial difficulties for years, could lose its editorial independence or even be censored. Until now, the legally guaranteed license fee has been the broadcaster’s main source of income and has also been independent of the relevant government.
The broadcasting fee was 4.64 euros per household per month
It was 4.64 euros per household per month, socially disadvantaged families paid a lower amount and pensioners were completely exempt. Although it has not risen for several years, it has accounted for almost half of the channel’s total revenue. Income from advertisements is legally limited for RTVS, so that the broadcaster does not take market share from private media.
TV news executive fired
In the past there were fierce discussions about repeated political influence, especially about the design of the RTVS news programmes. In mid-November, the TV news management team was laid off. The reason was a live broadcast of the party congress of the largest left-populist opposition party, where former Prime Minister Robert Fico had criticized the government’s military support for Ukraine.
Source: Krone
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