ARD and ZDF are going to court for an increase

It is unclear whether the broadcasting fee will increase from 18.36 euros to 18.94 euros. The states have not yet decided – ARD and ZDF are now reacting and going to court.

ARD and ZDF are going to the Federal Constitutional Court for an increase in the broadcasting fee to 18.94 euros. The constitutional complaint is directed against the fact that the federal states have not yet made a corresponding decision and therefore a timely increase on January 1, 2025 is no longer possible, as the public broadcaster announced.

The country leaders want to discuss again at their Prime Minister’s meeting in mid-December. The broadcasters are now increasing the pressure with the constitutional complaint.

The broadcasting fee is currently 18.36 euros per month. In total, around nine billion euros are raised for public broadcasting. Financial experts – the Commission for Determining the Financial Requirements of Broadcasters (KEF) – recommended the increase of 58 cents for the next contribution period from 2025 to 2028. According to the procedure, the federal states must closely follow it.

“Cannot accept a violation of procedure”

“This step is difficult for us, but we cannot accept a violation of the procedure,” said Kai Gniffke, chairman of ARD and director of SWR, according to the statement. “We bear responsibility over the next four years for permanently securing non-state funding and thus for journalistic independence as part of broadcasting freedom. This is regulated by law and laws must be adhered to. Law and law-abiding know no compromises.”

ZDF director Norbert Himmler said: “The independence of our reporting stands or falls with the independence of our financing.” The look at the world’s trouble spots and the growing uncertainty in Germany also showed once again how valuable public broadcasting is as a guarantor reliable information for society.

Broadcaster boss Himmler continued: “The constitution stipulates that it must be adequately financed for this. Since the states do not implement the KEF’s contribution recommendation, we have no other option than to lodge another complaint in Karlsruhe.”

The Federal Constitutional Court has already been involved once

The process for determining the contribution that households and companies pay is precisely defined in a state treaty. The last time around four years ago, the public broadcasters had contacted the highest constitutional court in Karlsruhe because Saxony-Anhalt had spoken out against an increase.

At that time, the judges put the federal state in its place and ordered an increase in the contribution months late in the summer of 2021 from 17.50 euros to the current 18.36 euros. It is unclear when the Karlsruhe judges will make a decision on the latest constitutional complaint.

Why the countries are fighting over the broadcasting fee

This time too, several prime ministers – including Saxony-Anhalt, Bavaria and Brandenburg – made it clear early on that they were against an increase. Some of the critics are calling for more willingness to reform on the part of the media companies, and they are also talking about a loss of trust as a result of the RBB scandal. And the argument is made that the public broadcasters have sufficient reserves that could be used until reforms take effect – the KEF again contradicts this.

Proponents of an increase say reforms will only deliver savings over time. Therefore, the houses must be granted the increase in contributions – also with a view to inflation. The problem: All prime ministers and then all state parliaments must agree to an increase in contributions. If just one country says no, everything remains the status quo.

Broadcasting fee: Very unlikely to increase on January 1st

Due to the short time until the end of the year, it is virtually impossible that the broadcasting fee will increase on January 1, 2025. In addition, Prime Ministers such as Reiner Haseloff (CDU) from Saxony-Anhalt and Markus Söder (CSU) from Bavaria recently renewed their no vote.

In October, the country leaders decided on a broadcasting reform with changes to the station structure. However, they had postponed the financial issue due to differences. However, they announced that they wanted to change the way the contribution for ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio was determined. There was talk of a “system change”. There will be a different financing mechanism through contributions.

The broadcasting fee itself will not be changed, and the KEF recommendation should remain central. The state governments and state parliaments should also continue to have participation rights.

Text: DPA / Editor: GD