As of: February 23, 2024, 2:36 p.m
By: Maximilian Hertel
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Press
Split
Will the broadcasting fee for consumers become more expensive from January 2025?
While the federal states are discussing, there are first drafts of the contribution amount.
Frankfurt – Every year the broadcasting fee is adjusted in order to finance the public broadcasters and the state media authorities.
The decision to adjust the contribution lies with the federal states.
The amount of the broadcasting fee in 2025 for ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio is currently being discussed.
This Friday (February 23rd) independent experts will make their recommendations for the next few years.
What does all this mean for citizens?
Federal states are discussing higher broadcasting fees
The independent experts from the Commission for Determining the Financial Requirements of Broadcasting Corporations (KEF) will make a recommendation on Friday as to how high the broadcasting fee should be from 2025.
But you don't decide.
This is in the hands of the federal states, which determine the amount in a state treaty.
The current contribution period runs until the end of 2024. The KEF experts are proposing an increase in the contribution.
Most recently, the broadcasting fee was increased from 17.50 euros per month to the current amount of 18.36 euros in August 2021.
The adjustment was made by a decision of the Federal Constitutional Court because the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt did not agree to the survey, as stated on the website
Rundfunkteil.de
.
ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio then successfully filed a constitutional complaint.
Now the countries have to make another decision for 2025.
Adjustment of the broadcasting fee – experts suggest an increase of 58 cents
The federal states commission public broadcasting through a state treaty - so they determine what it should do for the population or what programs it should offer.
To achieve this, the houses must be financially equipped.
The economic effort follows the order.
The KEF regularly checks the financial plans of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio and ensures thrift.
When it comes to the amount of contributions, the federal states must closely follow the recommendations of the KEF experts.
According to initial drafts, the KEF expert commission proposes an increase in the broadcasting fee from 18.36 euros to 18.94 euros.
© IMAGO / Panama Pictures
The new recommendation for 2025 will be officially announced by the afternoon of February 23rd at the latest, when the experts hand over their KEF report to the federal states in Berlin.
In a preliminary draft, the experts came to 18.94 euros, which would be an increase of 58 cents.
But it is still unclear whether the contribution will change at all on January 1, 2025.
Because if the states do not make a decision this year, the amount will initially remain at the current level.
Then the only option left for the broadcasters is to go through the Federal Constitutional Court, as was the case in 2021.
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Broadcasting fee 2022 – This is how much fees consumers paid in total
According to the 2022 annual report from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio contribution service, the total income from the monthly broadcasting fee of 18.36 euros amounted to around 8.6 billion euros.
Of almost 46 million contribution accounts, around 3.2 million were in default or in enforcement.
In addition, there were costs of 178 million euros for expenses for the contribution service, which resulted in a total loss in 2022 of around 1.5 billion euros.
These are the key figures for 2022:
Amount of monthly Contribution fees |
€18.36 |
|---|---|
Number of contribution accounts |
45,957,188 |
administrative expenses |
€178,113,229.05 |
Number of contribution accounts in default / enforcement |
3,224,280 |
Number of unique Reminders/executions |
19,516,665 |
Amount of total income |
€8,567,818,396.35 |
Nevertheless, 2022 revenues increased by 1.73 percent compared to the previous year.
“The main reason for the increase in total revenue is the adjustment of the broadcasting fee from €17.50 to €18.36 per month as of August 1, 2021,” says the annual report.
If the KEF experts' draft prevails and the federal states also agree to it, the public broadcasters and the state media authorities could expect gross revenue of around 10.5 billion euros.
It remains to be seen whether and when the broadcasting fee will be increased.
As early as 2023, the first federal state spoke out against a more expensive broadcasting fee.
(
mh/dpa
)