The planned increase in the license fee met resistance in 2020. Then the ARD threatened with drastic program cuts, but this threat now seems to be obsolete. Because the Federal Constitutional Court paved the way for an increase today. That changes for citizens.
Should Amazon and Netflix pay?
This is what the parties say about the radio license fee
Last year everyone was talking about the radio license fee. For the first time in about 11 years this should be increased. But the broadcasters encountered an unexpected obstacle in the form of Saxony-Anhalt and its Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU). An obstacle that has now, around eight months later, been finally removed.
THIS IS HOW HIGH THE GEZ CONTRIBUTION WILL BE FROM JULY 2021
The Federal Constitutional Court announced on August 5, 2021 that the state of Saxony-Anhalt “by failing in its approval of the First Media Treaty Amendment broadcasting freedom of the public service broadcasters under Article 5 para. 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law” violated. For German citizens, this means that the provisions of the First Interstate Media Amendment Treaty apply for the time being. As a result, the license fee can rise by 86 cents to EUR 18.36 per month – with retroactive effect from July 20. The annual expenditure on the part of the citizens thus increases by a total of 10.32 euros.
RADIO LICENSE FEE – WHAT FOR?
In 2020, the GEZ total amounts to around 8.11 billion euros. The increase over the previous year was around 42.6 million. How the revenue from the broadcasting fee is actually used is not explained in detail in the 2020 annual report of ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Contribution Service . However, the general overview of the costs is as follows:
PARTIES AND CITIZENS TAKE POSITIONS
In view of the approaching federal election in 2021, numerous parties have taken a stand and discussed the situation around the GEZ fee in their respective election programs. The Greens see a need for reform and strive to review the previous offer, while the FDP would like to reduce the broadcasting fee. For their part, the CDU and SPD are satisfied with the current status quo; meanwhile, the AFD is calling for the GEZ fees to be abolished. You can find a more detailed description of the situation in a separate article on the federal election and the broadcasting fee .
Meanwhile, the citizens are rather critical of the GEZ. In 2018, 44 percent of respondents said that they consider the contribution to be excessive, while 43 percent would like to stop paying altogether. The main point of criticism is that the offer of public service broadcasting does not cover one’s own interests. Why a complete abolition is still not a good idea and what alternative there is, reveals our comment on the radio contribution .
