For households in Germany, 16, 50 Euro radio license fee. An increase blocked by Saxony-Anhalt in December to 18, 36 Euro is not affected by urgent requests from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio. Judges at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rejected the urgent requests of the public broadcasters on Tuesday. That does not say whether the contribution in Germany could increase in the long term. In the main proceedings, the judges will decide later.

Financial gap in the billions For the public broadcasters, the ruling now means that they have to readjust their budget calculations. Because they had already priced in the contribution plus of 86 cents. For 2021 to 2024 an independent commission – KEF – has a financial gap of 1.5 Billions of euros forecast. The 86 cents would have filled this gap.

The ARD chairman Tom Buhrow told the German Press Agency: “We now have to adjust our financial planning. Failure to adjust the premium will require serious measures that will be seen and heard in the program.” One will now advise together. A Deutschlandradio spokesperson told dpa: “We will now decide on short-term savings measures that can be implemented in the near future and await the decision in the main proceedings.” it should not be possible for them to continue to finance their programs for a certain period of time.

Contribution increase planned The post should actually be on January 1st on 18, 36 euros rise. The additional requirement of 86 cents per month was determined by an independent commission, the KEF. It would be the first increase since 2009. It is intended to compensate for a financial gap of 1.5 billion euros between 2021 and 2024. The broadcasting fee, which since 2013 is no longer charged as a device-dependent fee, but per apartment, is the main source of income for the public broadcasters.

In order for the negotiated state treaty to come into force, the consent of Saxony-Anhalt is missing. There Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff withdrew the draft law on December 8th before the vote in the state parliament because it became clear that his CDU – unlike the coalition partners SPD and Greens – would not support the increase. This generally blocks the increase, because all 16 state parliaments must agree.

The public broadcasters see their freedom of broadcasting as violated and have sued in Karlsruhe. Your constitutional complaints are also “neither obviously inadmissible nor obviously unfounded”, according to the judges’ decision. However, they saw no reason to intervene immediately.

Subsequent compensation possible The broadcasters did not explain in more detail, ” that an unconstitutional delay in the entry into force of the amendment to the State Treaty on Broadcasting Financing irreversibly led to serious disadvantages “. A worse program can no longer be compensated for in retrospect. The judges assume, however, that the broadcasters will be able to make advance payments for a certain period of time – especially since they would be entitled to compensation if Karlsruhe finally upheld their constitutional complaints.

ZDF- Artistic director Thomas Bellut also sees the rejection as an encouraging point. The director informed dpa: “It is encouraging to note in the justification that a violation of freedom of broadcasting is possible in view of the previous case law.”

(mho)