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ARD President Buhrow Speaks of “Necessity” and Threatens to Cut Program
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Saxony-Anhalt blocks increase transmission rate
The state parliament in Magdeburg will not deal with the disputed state treaty in the black-red-green coalition until the end of the year. Therefore, the planned increase in the license fee by 86 cents has been reversed.
Due to the Saxony-Anhalt blockade against a higher transmission rate, public broadcasters want to take action before the Federal Constitutional Court. ARD President Tom Buhrow announced a lawsuit in December. Deutschlandradio wants to send an urgent request.
reARD broadcasters want to file a broadcast rate complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court this year. ARD President Tom Buhrow announced Wednesday. A spokesman for Deutschlandradios said the station would submit an urgent request in Karlsruhe. This means that the Federal Constitutional Court can decide on the transmission fee this year.
If the 86-cent monthly rate increase for each household does not come before January 1, the ARD assumes that cuts to the program will be necessary. “One thing is clear: with many reforms, cuts and austerity measures, we have generally exhausted what can be done behind the scenes,” said Buhrow of the dpa news agency. “Now we are at a point: if the premium adjustment calculated by the commission responsible for KEF does not arrive, you will see and hear it clearly on the program.”
All stations would be affected, says Buhrow, who is also the director of WDR: “The two smaller stations, Saarländischer Rundfunk and Radio Bremen, and then also Hessischer Rundfunk, would be particularly depressed. Then you can also speak of need, “said Buhrow.
ZDF Director Thomas Bellut made a similar statement on Tuesday: “Tariff adjustment has now become a political problem in Saxony-Anhalt. Therefore, the ZDF unfortunately has no choice but to appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court ”. Obviously, the procedure has become the toy of politics in a federal state, which is actually supposed to prevent the “KEF process, which is organized outside the state.”
A failure of the increase would affect “the industry, which has already been shaken by the pandemic, in a massive and sustainable way,” said Bellut. “The ZDF could no longer develop its effect as the largest customer in this market as before.”
Deutschlandradio said that funding based on the needs of public broadcasters was no longer guaranteed from 2021. Therefore, it was decided to file a constitutional complaint. Artistic director Stefan Raue emphasized: “We must already follow a strict course of austerity to be visible in the digital world with our offerings. Therefore, not increasing the rate would inevitably affect programming. “
The broadcasting commission of the federal states is planning a special meeting after Saxony-Anhalt stops the state treaty amending the media. Rhineland-Palatinate state media secretary Heike Raab (SPD) told radio host MDR that she would now invite the Saxony co-chair to an extraordinary meeting of the commission. Then they consider together how to proceed. Rhineland-Palatinate chairs the Broadcasting Commission.
Saxony-Anhalt Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) decided not to allow the state parliament to vote on the state transmission tariff treaty. Despite several crisis meetings, the state CDU had emphasized that under no circumstances would it accept an increase in the radio license fee from 17.50 to 18.36 euros on January 1, 2021.
The alliance partners SPD and Greens wanted to support the project from all countries. The CDU could have enforced its veto with AfD votes. Haseloff definitely wanted to avoid a joint vote with the AfD. In the event of the CDU-AfD veto, the SPD and the Greens threatened the end of Kenya’s first national coalition, which had been in power since 2016.
The left in Saxony-Anhalt said Tuesday that it considers the withdrawal of the state broadcasting treaty to be ineffective. “The Prime Minister claims that he has withdrawn the State Broadcasting Treaty from the State Parliament, but he should have better examined the Constitution beforehand.” It clearly establishes that a resolution of the entire State Government is required for the introduction of bills, “which in turn then also applies to the withdrawal of bills,” he said in a statement from the parliamentary group.
The Prime Minister had stressed several times that there was no such cabinet decision. Therefore, going to the Dessau state constitutional court is being considered.
The history of public service broadcasting
When the public service broadcaster was founded, the model was the BBC. ARD and ZDF have the imperative of distance and independence from the state. They are financed through the radio license fee, which repeatedly causes discontent.
Source: WELT / Christoph Hipp
