;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=medium&hash=5e778ea81ed2b92a2cd53f7c851e4f8bfde160c53d81925bdf31bc129022f9bf "Revenue surpluses on ARD and ZDF – broadcasting fee could fall again for the first time since 2015")
Revenue surpluses on ARD and ZDF: Broadcasting fee could fall again for the first time since 2015
Public service broadcasting has made high profits in the past. As a result, the broadcasting fee could soon fall again. For the first time in years, the KEF Fees Commission is now proposing a reduction in fees.
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According to the head of the KEF fee commission, Martin Detzel, contributors will soon be able to look forward to a reduction in the broadcasting fee.
In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ), Detzel explained that the KEF had asked the broadcasters not to spend the additional income they had recently achieved from the broadcasting fee. Revenue surpluses should therefore only be spent with the approval of the KEF. How high the surplus is, however, is not clear from the conversation.
The KEF instructed the institutions to save the plus for the coming contribution period.
The sums that are being discussed here will probably not become apparent until the end of 2024. According to estimates by the KEF, German consumers could save 50 cents a month or 6 euros a year. The fee would thus drop to 17.86 euros per month.
Broadcasting fee: The last and only fee reduction was many years ago
The public broadcasters had announced early on that they wanted to raise the fees for the next contribution period from 2025. According to rumours, an increase to 25.19 euros per month was planned. Great criticism of these plans came from the CDU/CSU and the FDP, among others.
There had also been several criticisms at the state level recently. Dietmar Woidke, Prime Minister of Brandenburg, and Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, had asked ZDF for financial planning that would not allow broadcasting fees to increase in the coming years. According to information from Saxony-Anhalt, they pointed out in a note in the minutes of the meeting in April that trust in public broadcasting “is currently severely shaken and, in particular, acceptance of the amount of the broadcasting fee is steadily decreasing”. The broadcasting fee is currently EUR 18.36 per month.
Incidentally, the last and so far only reduction in broadcasting fees was several years ago. From the contribution period that began in 2015, consumers paid 48 cents less per month compared to the previous year.
The original of this post “Broadcasting fee could fall again for the first time since 2015” comes from chip.de.
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