The public broadcasters are entitled to an 86 cents higher broadcasting fee, which will then be at 18.36 euros for the time being. The judges of the Federal Constitutional Court decided on Thursday morning in Karlsruhe. The increase applies retrospectively from July 20, 2021 until a new legal regulation. After Saxony-Anhalt blocked a new state treaty to increase the contribution, ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk went to Germany’s highest court.
Originally, it was planned that the monthly license fee would be increased as early as January 1, 2021. The state parliaments of 15 federal states approved the increase, only Saxony-Anhalt did not vote on the corresponding law in December 2020.
Since then, the public broadcasters have had to make do with the old fee of 17.50 euros. ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio argued that they would no longer be able to fulfill their program mandate without the contribution increase. In addition, their freedom of broadcasting is violated.
Violation of the freedom of broadcasting enshrined in the Basic Law
The Karlsruhe judges now assessed the blockade by the state of Saxony-Anhalt as a violation of the freedom of broadcasting enshrined in the Basic Law. In its judgment, the Federal Constitutional Court made it clear that the broadcasting contributions had to be set “free of any media-political purposes”. The federal states as legislators would have to ensure that the broadcasters could fulfill their functional mandate through “needs-based financing”.
The legislature is responsible for ensuring that the financial prerequisites for the tasks are given. “If a country does not fulfill its co-warranty obligation and this makes it impossible to fulfill the fundamental right to finance, this already constitutes a violation of freedom of broadcasting.”
ARD chairman Tom Buhrow welcomed the verdict. “The decision enables us to continue to make the best possible program for the people in the coming years,” said Buhrow on Thursday. “We would like to thank the court for the speedy advice and welcome the clear decision to guarantee freedom of broadcasting. The decision is in continuity with the tried and tested case law of the past decades.” The broadcasting fee must be set free of political interests.