Broadcasting: ARD and ZDF go to Karlsruhe for higher broadcasting fees

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 decision and therefore a timely increase on January 1, 2025 is no longer possible, as the public broadcaster announced.

The Prime Ministers want to discuss again at their meeting in mid-December. ARD and ZDF are now increasing the pressure with the constitutional complaint. Deutschlandradio is not involved in the complaint because no increase in the share of the contribution was planned for the stations Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Deutschlandfunk Nova.

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.”

ZDF director Norbert Himmler said: “The independence of our reporting stands and falls with the independence of our financing.” The constitution stipulates that broadcasting 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.”

Söder: The lawsuit lacks a sense of the general situation

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said: “The broadcasters would benefit from more restraint on their own behalf.” Public broadcasting must not lose the support of the population. “In times of tight budgets, a forced increase in fees sends the wrong signal.” It’s about a feeling for the general situation. “Unfortunately, the lawsuit lacks this feeling,” criticized the CSU boss.

Schweitzer: Shouldn’t have come to this lawsuit

According to the wishes of the majority of the states, this lawsuit should not have come about, said the chairman of the broadcasting commission, the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate Alexander Schweitzer (SPD). The majority of countries have always been committed to fulfilling the constitutional obligation and implementing the KEF recommendation. “This would have meant an adjustment of the broadcasting fee far below the general price development,” said Schweitzer.

Public broadcasting needs acceptance – and that can only be achieved through changes, said the co-chairman of the Broadcasting Commission and Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU). The open questions regarding the financing of public broadcasting will be “clarified together” at the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) on December 12th.

Nathanael Liminski (CDU), media minister in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said that the lawsuit reflected “distrust of the elected politics”, raised doubts about the broadcasters’ determination to leverage savings potential and was “grist to the mill of opponents of a broadly anchored policy”. public broadcasting”.

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 states 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.

Change from January 1st very unlikely

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.