The budgets of the public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio will amount to more than 10 billion euros for the first time this year. This has been calculated by the Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IfM) from the broadcasters' budgets for 2023. Nevertheless, the German Association of Journalists (DJV) is calling for an increase in the broadcasting fee.

Far ahead of the BBC or the RAI

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for Feuilleton Online and "Medien".

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The addition results in an expected income of 10.027 billion euros, according to the Cologne-based IfM. Of this, the ARD broadcasters accounted for 7.25 billion euros, ZDF 2.501 billion and Deutschlandradio 276 million euros. 85 percent of the revenue came from the broadcasting fee (most recently 8.42 billion euros per year), from advertising and sponsoring as well as from other income.

In 1995, the total budget of the broadcasters was still 5.9 billion euros. In 2017, it was 8.8 billion. From 1995 to 2023, the total revenues of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio would have increased by 4.1 billion euros and thus by around 70 percent. The inflation-related loss of purchasing power amounted to 38 percent during this period.

This means that public service broadcasting in Germany is far ahead in terms of financial resources compared to other countries. The total turnover of the British BBC was 2022.6 billion euros (25.5 billion British pounds) in 3, according to the Institute for Media Policy. France Télévisions had come in 2021 to about 2.8 billion, the Italian RAI to 2.5 billion euros total revenue.

The compulsory broadcasting fee per month in Germany is currently 18.36 euros. The Austrian government has just announced that the monthly fee due for the public broadcaster ORF will fall to 15 euros. The ORF comes to an annual budget of around one billion euros, but is called upon to save significantly.

DJV: Broadcasting fee must rise

According to the DJV journalists' association, however, it is necessary for the broadcasting fee – and thus the budget of the broadcasters – to increase. The directors would have to take "the inflation rate appropriately" into account in the upcoming registration of their "financial requirements" with the competent fee commission KEF. The high price increases would have to be "covered by a higher broadcasting fee," said DJV Federal Chairman Frank Überall.

Everything else – this is his interpretation – leads "after years of austerity rounds at the stations inevitably to program cuts and staff cuts": "There must be no anticipatory obedience of the directors to presumed political moods in the countries," says Überall. "The increased financial requirements can be justified. The station bosses have to face up to this discussion."

The workload in the editorial offices is constantly increasing, without salaries and fees being raised in line with inflation. "This does not go well in the long run," said Überall. "The only way out is a higher broadcasting fee." The mood in the editorial offices is already at its lowest point.