The Czech ruling coalition has unveiled additional details about its plan to progressively abolish the public broadcasting fee starting in 2026, but it has failed to present a detailed proposal for a new funding model or a clear implementation timeline.
On 21 April, Member of Parliament Patrik Nacher, from the ruling party ANO, announced a parliamentary proposal to exempt, from late 2026, people aged over 75 and companies with fewer than 50 employees from the obligation to pay the fee. Currently, the license fee is obligatory for all hoapplyholds and companies with more than 25 employees. However, he did not present the draft bill itself due to a lack of agreement within the ruling coalition.
The proposal is, nevertheless, still intfinished as a “transitional step” toward replacing licence-fee funding with direct state budreceive financing from 2027, as set out in a separate bill presented by Culture Minister Oto Klempir on 14 April. In addition to dismantling the funding model that currently guarantees the indepfinishence of Czech public broadcasters, the ministerial bill would significantly reduce the income of these public media. Taken toreceiveher, the two proposals are expected to progressively decrease the revenues of Czech Radio (CRo) and Czech Television (CT) by tens of millions of euros.
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