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101-684: The ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice (English: ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio contribution service ), commonly referred to simply as GEZ , is the organization responsible for collecting the television and radio fee ( Rundfunkbeitrag ) from private individuals, companies and institutions in Germany. The Beitragsservice is headquartered in Cologne and is an unincorporated joint organisation of Germany 's public broadcasting institutions ARD , ZDF and Deutschlandradio , as well as their public-law affiliates. Mandatory licence fees are set in

202-443: A budget of €6.9 billion, 22,612 employees and is the largest public broadcaster network in the world. The budget comes primarily from a mandatory licence fee which every household, company and public institution, regardless of television ownership, is required by law to pay. For an ordinary household the fee is €18.36 per month, as of 2023. Households living on welfare are exempt from the fee. The fees are not collected directly by

303-563: A culture-oriented radio station co-produced by Radio Bremen and NDR). Most ARD stations, however, will have at least a news-oriented radio station, a classical music station, a youth-oriented station, and a cultural station. At night some stations will relay common night programming produced on a rota system by the ARD stations themselves. There are four common night programming services: Hitnacht (light music), Nachtkonzert (classical music), Infonacht (all news), and Popnacht (pop music). Most services are on

404-477: A culture-oriented service. It also provides a science-orientated internet channel: Deutschlandfunk Nova . ARD's best-known radio station outside Germany is Deutsche Welle , which broadcasts its radio services around the world in many languages, mostly on analogue shortwave radio, online, and FM partner stations. Deutsche Welle has no FM distribution in Germany. "Archivradio" is an ARD internet radio station that streams raw audio from German sound archives, mainly

505-438: A flat-rate household licence fee would be introduced in 2013. The model set out the collection of licence fees as a lump sum per household, regardless of the number of broadcast reception devices present, or even, if any devices are present at all. This required that the 'GEZ' be reorganised, and that broadcast licence fee commissioners are no longer be employed by state broadcasting institutions. The monthly fee per household became

606-639: A licence may now increase to account for inflation. As of April 2024, the licence fee is £169.50 for a colour and £57 for a black and white television Licence As it is classified in law as a tax, evasion of licence fees is a criminal offence. 204,018 people were prosecuted or fined in 2014 for TV licence offences: 173,044 in England, 12,536 in Wales, 4,905 people in Northern Ireland and 15 in the Isle of Man. The licence fee

707-483: A licence, giving access to radio and online services free of advertising. The Albanian licence fee is 100 lekë per month, paid as part of the electricity bill. This makes up part of RTSH 's funding: 58 per cent comes directly from the government through taxes with the remainder from commercials and the licence fee. Under Austria 's TV and Radio Licence Law ( Fernseh- und Hörfunklizenzrecht ), all operational broadcast reception equipment must be registered. Since 1998,

808-472: A local influence on local regional broadcasters. NDR cites the influence of Hugh Greene on the early years of their organisation. After the creation of individual broadcasting agencies for most German federal states these principles were further consolidated by Länder broadcasting laws, decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ), and state treaties between

909-455: A mere two-hour schedule per night, television became more widespread in Germany in the 1960s. Color broadcasts were introduced in 1967. Without competition from private broadcasters (other than the francophone Europe 1 and the multilingual RTL (Radio-Television Luxembourg) radio programs), the ARD stations made considerable progress in becoming modern and respected broadcasters. ZDF ( Z weites D eutsches F ernsehen, Second German Television),

1010-612: A minority share. Within HRT, 66 per cent of the licence fee income goes to television and 34 per cent to radio. The licence fee in the Czech Republic is 135 Kč per month for television and 45 Kč per month for radio, amounting to 2160 Kč per year. Paid advertisements are not permitted on television except in narrowly defined circumstances during a transitional period. Each household that owns at least one television pays for one licence, regardless of how many televisions they own. Corporations and

1111-680: A reduced or zero licence fee. Faced with licence fee evasion, some countries chose to fund public broadcasters directly from taxation or via methods such as a co-payment with electricity billing. In some countries, national public broadcasters carry advertising. In 1989, the Council of Europe created the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. Among other things, this regulates advertising. The treaty came into force in 1993 when it had been ratified by seven countries, including five EU member states . As of 2010 , 34 countries have acceded to

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1212-469: A say in programming. In the 1950s the ARD radio services became the major factor of the mass media system in West Germany. As early as 1952 the ARD radio stations had ten million listeners. However, the radio stations operated on a regional level, and it was only the development of a television umbrella that helped the ARD to establish itself nationwide. The broadcasting of a countrywide TV broadcast service

1313-481: A second public television broadcaster with a centralized national organization structure, began its programming in 1963, but ARD would encounter no private competition in Germany until 1984. The ARD stations have also been a significant force in German politics ; such investigative news magazines as Monitor and Panorama still reach millions of viewers every week. The environmental movement increased in popularity during

1414-726: A television rights trader and production company; the German Broadcasting Archive (DRA – Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv); the Institute for Broadcasting Technology (IRT – Institut für Rundfunktechnik), responsible for research and development; the Fee Collection Service (Beitragsservice) , and others. ARD is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) initiative that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for

1515-586: A television set is required to have a licence, but in 2006 non-payment was described as "epidemic" following a series of scandals involving NHK. In 2005, it was reported that "there is no fine or any other form of sanction for non-payment". The NHK Party , often called the Anti-NHK Party, was founded in 2013 as a single-issue political party to oppose the license fee, with its only policy being to encrypt NHK's broadcast signal, meaning only those who watch NHK pay for it . ARD (broadcaster) The ARD has

1616-407: A very broad Internet presence with media portals, news and TV programs. National broadcasters abandoned an earlier pledge to restrict their online activities. This resulted in newspapers taking court action against the ARD, claiming that its Tagessschau smartphone app was unfairly subsidised by the licence fee, to the detriment of free-market providers of news content apps. The case was dismissed with

1717-427: Is 8.70 zł per month. One licence is required per household, irrespective of the number of sets. The fee is waived for people over 75. Public health institutions, nurseries, educational institutions, hospices and retirement homes need only one licence per building or building complex they occupy. Commercial premises need a licence for each set, including radios and televisions in company vehicles. Around 60 per cent of

1818-408: Is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts or the possession of a television set . In some countries, a licence is also required to own a radio or receive radio broadcasts . In such countries, some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence fees. Licence fees are effectively a hypothecated tax to fund public broadcasting . Radio broadcasters in

1919-612: Is a subgroup of the Finanzkommission der Rundfunkanstalten (Financial Commission of Broadcasting Institutions). The managing director of the Beitragsservice is the chairperson of the Arbeitsgruppe Gebührenplanung . The licence fee for radio, TV and new media amounted to €18.36 per month since August 2021. On June 9, 2010, state governors decided that Heidelberg University Professor Paul Kirchhof 's model of

2020-657: Is also involved in several joint venture channels: The international broadcaster Deutsche Welle also produces television services; however, these services are mostly available via satellite. The Tagesschau , produced by the ARD on a nightly basis, is available on the ARD website as a podcast (available as audio-only or as audio and video). Other audio programs from the ARD's members (e.g., BR , MDR ) and Deutsche Welle are available as podcasts, through their respective websites. ARD has 30 correspondents ' offices in 26 countries. ARD operates several other companies and institutions, sometimes jointly with ZDF: Degeto Film ,

2121-546: Is approximately €46 per year. The Bosnian War and associated collapse of infrastructure caused very high evasion rates. This has partly been resolved by collecting the licence fee as part of each household's monthly telephone bill. The licence fee is divided between three broadcasters: The licence fee in Croatia is regulated by the Croatian Radiotelevision Act, 2003. This law was written to ensure compliance with

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2222-435: Is billed monthly but typically paid quarterly or yearly. It is collected by Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio which is sometimes criticized for its enforcement measures. Since 2013, only recipients of certain social benefits such as Arbeitslosengeld II or student loans and grants are exempt from the licence fee. People with certain disabilities can apply to pay a reduced fee of €5.83. Low income, in general,

2323-432: Is charged to all owners of equipment capable of receiving television or radio broadcasts. It is set at 1.5 per cent of the previous year's average net salary, which is €137 per year per household with at least one radio or television receiver. It is the main source of revenue for the national broadcaster Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT) , and a secondary source of income for other national and local broadcasters, which receive

2424-416: Is heavily disputed. For example, a 2019 study from Oxford (p. 24) stated that the majority of the audience of German public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and "Deutschland Radio" are left-winged or left of the center of the political spectrum. The AfD took this to show that the broadcaster is biased and contributing to a left-shift in the political environment. The majority of German newspapers have responded that

2525-649: Is no longer a reason for exemption. Since the fee is billed to a person and not to a dwelling, empty dwellings are exempt. The licence fee is used to fund the public broadcasters ZDF and Deutschlandradio , as well as the nine regional broadcasters of the ARD network. Together, they run 22 television channels (10 regional, 10 national, 2 international: Arte and 3sat ) and 61 radio stations (58 regional, 3 national). Two national television stations and 32 regional radio stations carry limited advertising. The 14 regional regulatory authorities for private broadcasters are also funded by

2626-502: Is paid to the state broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT). In June 2013, ERT was closed down to save money for the Greek government and licence fees were temporarily suspended. In June 2015, ERT reopened and the licence fee resumed at a rate of €36 per year. As of 2020, the cost of a television licence in Ireland is €160 per year. The licence applies to premises so a separate licence

2727-450: Is required for each household where television programmes are watched or recorded as they are broadcast, irrespective of the signal method (terrestrial, satellite, cable or the Internet). As of September 2016, users of BBC iPlayer must also have a television licence to watch on-demand television content from the service. As of 1 April 2017, after a price freeze that began in 2010, the cost of

2828-439: Is required for holiday homes or motor vehicles which contain a television. The licence must be paid for premises that have any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, regardless of whether they view RTÉ's content. The licence is free to anyone over the age of 70, to some people over 66, to people on a disability allowance, and people who are blind (these licences are paid for by the state). The Irish post office, An Post ,

2929-485: Is required to pay a broadcasting subscription fee. The monthly fee is €3.50, or €42.00 per annum. Funds are distributed, The Broadcasting Agency of Montenegro collected the fee through telephone bills, but after the privatization of Telekom , the new owners, T-com, announced they would not administer the fee after July 2007. As of 2023, the licence fee in Poland for a television set is 27.30 zł per month, or for radio only

3030-406: Is responsible for the collection of the licence fee and commencement of prosecution proceedings in cases of non-payment, but An Post has signalled its intention to withdraw from its licence fee business. The licence fee makes up 50 per cent of the revenue of RTÉ , the national broadcaster with the rest coming from radio and television advertisements. Some RTÉ services have not historically relied on

3131-516: Is used almost entirely to fund BBC domestic radio, television and internet services. Money received from the licence represents approximately 75 per cent of the cost of these services, with most of the remainder coming from the profits of BBC Studios , a commercial arm of the corporation which distributes content outside of the United Kingdom, and operates or licences BBC-branded television services and brands. The BBC also receives some funding from

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3232-905: Is used to fund the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation . The licence fee in South Africa is R 265 (about €23) per annum (R312 per year if paid on a monthly basis) for television. A concessionary rate of R70 is available for those over 70, disabled persons and war veterans who are on social welfare. The licence fee partially funds the public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), providing R972 million (almost €90 million) in 2008–9. SABC derives much of its income from advertising. Proposals to abolish licensing have circulated since October 2009. The national carrier hopes to receive funding entirely from state subsidies and commercials. In Japan,

3333-506: The Beitragsservice . In 2002, German registration authorities transferred over 12 million data sets to the GEZ. To identify non-payers, the GEZ expanded its database with data purchased from commercial address vendors. This is allowed under the terms of Rundfunkstaatsvertrag . Some regional courts have ruled that enforcement is illegal ( Zwangsvollstreckung , forced seizure of property, for example directly from bank account registered with

3434-702: The Rundfunkfinanzierungsstaatsvertrag (English: State Treaty on the Financing of Broadcasting ). Since 2013, every private household in Germany has been required to pay these fees, regardless of whether the household actually has the capability to receive the broadcasts themselves. Exceptions can be made for individuals with low income or health issues. Until 2013, the organisation was officially known as GEZ , short for Gebühreneinzugszentrale der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (English: Fee Collection Center of

3535-608: The Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR, English: "Central German Broadcasting"), and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB, English: "East German Broadcasting Brandenburg"). The existing NDR service expanded into the north-east, where it also covered Mecklenburg-Vorpommern . The ORB service has since merged with the former Sender Freies Berlin (SFB, English "Radio Free Berlin") to become Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, English: "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting") in 2003. Another merger took place between two member organisations of

3636-511: The Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported in February 2019 the ARD wanted to impress upon its audience certain moral views. A manual from the "Berkeley International Framing Institute" (see sources below) was used internally in order to make ARD viewers consider their fees less as a compulsory contribution than as a kind of donation to a good cause. But the website Netzpolitik.org (who published

3737-541: The ARD 2008 yearbook. According to its 2010 annual report, the GEZ employed 1,148 people. According to its website, the Beitragsservice still employs around 1,000 people. In 2016 the total sum of licence fees collected amounted to €7,978,041,425.77 thereof a revenue for Beitragsservice itself of €167,954,892.36. The state broadcaster and the Beitragsservice can store and administer fee payer data needed to collect

3838-609: The BBC . In most countries that introduced radio licensing, possession of a licence was simply an indication of having paid the fee. However in Canada, between 1914 and 1922 people needed to pass an "Amateur Experimental Certificate of Proficiency", demonstrating the ability to send and receive Morse code at five words per minute, to be allowed to use a radio receiver. With the arrival of television, some countries created separate television licences. Other countries increased radio licence fees to cover

3939-447: The FM broadcast band , though some services are also available on DAB . A similar network intended for national coverage is called Deutschlandradio , however, Deutschlandradio is not an ARD member – instead, Deutschlandradio is controlled by both ARD and ZDF. Deutschlandradio provides two terrestrial radio services: Deutschlandfunk (DLF), a news-oriented service, and Deutschlandfunk Kultur ,

4040-596: The Gebühren Info Service  [ de ] (GIS) has been responsible for licence administration. GIS was renamed to ORF-Beitragsservice (OBS) in 2024. It is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Austrian public broadcaster, ( ORF ) and an agency of the Federal Ministry of Finance . GIS aims to inform people about licensing, using a four-channel communication strategy consisting of: In 2007 the total licensing income

4141-507: The Länder . ARD members are thus (at least nominally) free of government influence and rely for only a small part of their income on advertising (1995: ten percent). They are financed mainly from licence fees from radio and TV owners, which are set through a complex political process. The mandated aim of the ARD corporations is not only to inform and to entertain but also to encourage the integration of various parts of society and allow minorities

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4242-491: The Rundfunkfreiheit (freedom of broadcasting), they have an independent position (within a legal framework). The winning Allies of World War II determined that German radio after World War II would not broadcast the same propaganda as the pre-war Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft ("Reich Broadcasting Company"). A federal structure, the renunciation of state influence and the avoidance of economic dependence were to be

4343-695: The Scottish Government via MG Alba to finance the BBC Alba Gaelic-language television service in Scotland. The BBC used to receive a direct government grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to fund television and radio services broadcast to other countries, such as the BBC World Service radio and BBC Arabic Television . These services run on a non-profit, non-commercial basis. The grant

4444-470: The Swiss national public broadcaster SRG SSR must be registered and pay licence fees. The fee is CHF 335 per year for TV and radio for single households, and CHF 670 for multiple households, e.g. nursing homes . Households unable to receive broadcast transmissions are exempt from the fees until 2023 if residents apply to opt out. Residential licence fees are collected by Serafe AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of

4545-697: The ZDF and Deutschlandradio , and administers the collection of licence fees. It was created by an administrative agreement. The Beitragsservice is therefore not a legal entity of its own, but a part of the public broadcasting institutions. However, the Beitragsservice is a public authority in the material sense according to the Administrative Procedures Act of the Federal Republic of Germany ( VwVfG ), because it conducts public administration tasks. It conducts these tasks on behalf of

4646-510: The public radios stations have no commercial advertising. RTP3 and RTP Memória can broadcast commercial advertising on cable, satellite and IPTV platforms but not on digital terrestrial television. Licence fees in Serbia are bundled together with electricity bills and collected monthly. There have been increasing indications that the Government of Serbia is considering the temporary cessation of

4747-501: The "Taxa de Contribuição Audiovisual" (Portuguese for Broadcasting Contribution Tax ), charged monthly through the electricity bills. Following the 2010–2014 Portuguese financial crisis , government grants ended and RTP was financed only through the "Taxa de Contribuição Audiovisual" and advertising. Since July 2016, the fee is €2.85 + VAT per month. RTP1 can broadcast only 6 minutes of commercial advertising per hour (commercial channels can broadcast 12 minutes per hour). RTP2 and

4848-505: The 1980s largely as a result of the disclosures made by ARD. When private/commercial German-language broadcasters were admitted in Germany by federal law in the mid-1980s, ARD television made subtle changes, adapting somewhat by producing programs oriented to a larger audience for their national networks and shifting many cultural and news programs to the regional networks and to newly created niche channels. Informational television programs and

4949-400: The ARD in 1998. The former Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, English: "Southern German Broadcasting") and Südwestfunk (SWF, English: "Southwestcast") became Südwestrundfunk (SWR, English: "Southwest Broadcasting") on 1 October 1998. Today, ARD member stations usually produce their radio programming. Some ARD member stations usually collaborate for common radio services (an example is Nordwestradio,

5050-506: The ARD radio archives and the DRA. The program is accompanied by a web portal run by the ARD-member SWR, with background information on the original sounds aired. The main television channels of the ARD are the nationwide Das Erste and seven regional channels operated by the different regional broadcasting institutions. These channels were available on the analogue terrestrial transmitters until

5151-629: The ARD withdrew material critical of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , a journalist from the magazine Der Spiegel compared this behaviour in an opinion article to the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . To get rid of the "annoying image of state radio", the journalist recommends it would certainly be helpful to keep more distance from the government. Claudia Schwartz from

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5252-544: The ARD, but by the Beitragsservice (formerly known as Gebühreneinzugszentrale GEZ), a common organisation by the ARD member broadcasters, the second public TV broadcaster ZDF , and Deutschlandradio . ARD maintains and operates a national television network, called Das Erste ("The First") to differentiate it from ZDF , a.k.a. "das Zweite" ("The Second"), which started in 1963, as a separate public TV broadcaster. The ARD network began broadcasting on 31 October 1954 under

5353-616: The AfD have misunderstood the Oxford study, and accused the AfD of spreading fake news . Another point of evidence offered is that ARD board member and Director for Programming Christine Strobl is not only a member of the CDU party herself, but also the daughter of Wolfgang Schäuble , a prominent CDU member of parliament. As Director for Programming she is in a position to stop or initiate the production of programs, but also potentially editorial decisions. After

5454-458: The BBC. These other broadcasters are much smaller than the BBC. In addition to public broadcasters, the United Kingdom has a wide range of commercial television funded by advertising and subscription. A television licence is still required of viewers who solely watch such commercial channels, although 74.9 per cent of the population watches BBC One in any given week, making it the most popular channel in

5555-403: The European Convention on Transfrontier Television, which Croatia joined between 1999 and 2002. In addition to the licensing, the law regulates television advertising. Up to 9 per cent of air time on HRT may be given to advertising, with a limit of only one commercial during short breaks and no breaks during films. This is less than the limit permitted for commercial broadcasters. The licence fee

5656-488: The Federal Republic of Germany. The Beitragsservice has overall control over the planning of licence fee revenues from the supply of public-legal broadcasting in the Federal Republic of Germany. Based on preliminary work by the Beitragsservice , licence fees are planned for a period of five years in advance or the current fee period by the Arbeitsgruppe Gebührenplanung (license fee planning work group), which

5757-495: The Public Broadcasting Companies in the Federal Republic of Germany ) and it is still commonly known by this name. The organisation collaborates with German civil registration offices to enforce the collection of the fees. The Beitragsservice is an association of administrations subject to public law and has no legal capacity . It operates as a joint data center of the ARD state broadcasting institutions,

5858-468: The additional cost of television broadcasting, changing the name from "radio licence" to "TV licence" or "receiver licence". Today, most countries fund public radio broadcasting from the same licence fee that is used for television, although a few still have separate radio licences. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, have lower fees for households that only own monochrome television sets. In many countries, elderly and disabled consumers have

5959-419: The amount previously payable for television reception. Fee payers who previously only registered a radio or a "novel broadcast reception device" but no TV set, saw their licence fee increase by 212% (from €5.76 to €17.98), however households which previously had to pay multiple licence fees started to pay less. Since 1 January 2013, the exemption for people with disabilities was replaced by a one-third fee. Under

6060-522: The annual licence fee ( Japanese : 受信料 , jushin-ryo ) for terrestrial television broadcasts is ¥ 14,205, and ¥24,740 for those receiving satellite broadcasts. The fee is slightly less if paid by direct debit . There is a separate licence for monochrome TV, and fees are slightly less in Okinawa . The Japanese licence fee pays for the national broadcaster, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) . Every household in Japan with

6161-611: The country. A similar licence existed for radio but was abolished in 1971. The licence fee in Ghana was reintroduced in 2015, and is used to fund the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). Households have to pay between GH¢36 and GH¢60 per year for using one or more televisions at home. The licence fee in Mauritius is Rs 1,800 per year (around €29), collected as part of the electricity bill. The fee provides 60 per cent of

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6262-511: The court advising the two sides to find a compromise. The licence fee in Greece is paid through electricity bills. It is charged to every electricity account, including private residences and businesses. There has been discussion of replacing it with a direct licence fee after complaints from people who do not own a television set. An often-quoted joke is that even the dead pay the licence fee, since graveyards have electricity bills. Licensing income

6363-495: The day. Deutsche Welle , Germany's international broadcaster, is also a member of ARD. public-law broadcasting institutions means broadcasters which are not privately owned (German: Privatradio and Privatfernsehen ) and are not governmental radio or TV. ARD is not 'owned by' anybody, particularly not by "Germany" (meaning its government/federal state). ARD members like BR ( Bayerischer Rundfunk ) are not owned by their Land (state and its government, here Bavaria ), either. With

6464-400: The early 20th century needed to raise funds for their services. In some countries, this was achieved via advertising, while others adopted a compulsory subscription model with households that owned a radio set being required to purchase a licence. The United Kingdom was the first country to adopt compulsory public subscription with a licence, originally known as a wireless licence , used to fund

6565-502: The fee goes to Telewizja Polska with the rest going to Polskie Radio . Advertisements are allowed between programmes on public television but it is not permitted to interrupt its programmes for advertisements. The licence is collected and maintained by the Polish post office, Poczta Polska . There is a major problem with licence evasion in Poland: in 2012 around 65 per cent of households evaded

6666-501: The fee was raised from €17.50 per month to €18.36 per month. In 2010, the GEZ collected €7.65 billion in licence fees for state broadcasting institutions. Collection costs amounted to €160.5 million, which is about 2.13% of total revenue or €3.83 per participant. Additional costs are generated in the state broadcasting institutions by the so-called Beauftragtendienste (commissioner services), those expenditures for licence fee collection amounted to €184.97 million in 2007, according to

6767-587: The fee was €90.00. Sixty-six per cent of RAI 's income comes from the licence fee (up from about half of total income seven years ago), with another twenty-five per cent from advertising, which is aired pretty regularly every 20 minutes or so, with very few exceptions (football matches, special events, Eurovision Song Contest) Under the Broadcasting Law of December 2002, each household and legal entity in Montenegro able to receive radio or television programmes

6868-508: The fee. The Federal Statistical Office of Germany counts 39 million private households, while the GEZ in 2004 held 41.2 million data sets of fee payers. These included 2.2 million data sets of fee payers who de-registered ownership of devices which can receive radio/television. GEZ had one of the most comprehensive databases on the population of the Federal Republic of Germany. Another source of data are resident registration offices, which forward new registrations and changes of registration to

6969-547: The highest annual television licence cost, at €343.80, and Salzburg and Burgenland have the highest annual radio licence cost, at €94.92. Annual fees from July 2022 are: Since 2024, the broadcasting fee has been replaced by a household tax that every household pays. It is €15.30 per month. In the federal states of Burgenland, Carinthia, Styria and Tyrol, an additional state tax must be paid - this amounts to between €3.10 and €4.70 per month. The licence fee in Bosnia and Herzegovina

7070-468: The income for Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). Most of the remaining funds come from television and radio commercials. The introduction of private broadcasting in 2002 has put pressure on MBC's commercial revenues. Private stations argue that MBC affects their profitability and they want the government to make MBC commercial-free. The licence fee in Namibia was N$ 204 (about €23) in 2001. The fee

7171-492: The insurance collections agency Secon. Non-payment of licence fees incurs fines of up to CHF 100,000. For businesses, the fee is on a scale based on the company's annual turnover and is collected by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration. The majority of the fee, CHF 1.2 billion, goes to SRG SSR, with the rest going to a collection of small regional radio and television broadcasters. On 4 March 2018, there

7272-490: The key of the radio and TV institutions under public law ( öffentlich-rechtliche Rundfunk- und Fernsehanstalten , public radio and television organisations). The legal form of the new entity was Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts ("Institution under Public Law"), a non-government and nonprofit organisation with its own administration under the control of two commissions, the Rundfunkrat (Broadcasting Council, responsible for

7373-489: The licence fee (compared to an average of 10 per cent in the European Union ), and in 2020, only 8 per cent of Polish households paid the licence fee. Reasons for non-payment include the opt-in system in which there is no effective means to compel people to register or to prosecute those that fail to do so. Licensing inspectors, who are usually postal workers , do not have the right of entry to inspect premises and must get

7474-453: The licence fee until a more effective financing solution is found. However, as of 28 August 2013 this has yet to be realized. Since June 2013, the annual licence fee in Slovenia is €12.75 per household per month to receive both television and radio services, or €3.77 per month for radio only, regardless of the number of devices capable of receiving television or radio broadcasts. Businesses and

7575-548: The licence fee, and in some states, non-profit community radio stations get small amounts of the licence fee. Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle , is fully funded by the German federal government, though much of its new content is provided by the ARD. Germany's per capita budget for public broadcasting is close to the European average but the total is one of the largest in the world. In 2006, annual income from licence fees

7676-529: The licence for income, such as RTÉ 2fm , RTÉ Aertel , RTÉ.ie but since 2012 RTÉ 2FM has had some financial support from the licence. The RTÉ Transmission Network operates on an entirely commercial basis. Five per cent of the licence fee goes to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland 's "Sound and Vision Scheme", which provides funds for programme production and restoration of archive material. From 2011 until 2018, five per cent of RTÉ's licence income

7777-421: The name of Deutsches Fernsehen ("German Television"), becoming Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen ("First German Television") with a corporate redesign in 1984; it adopted its current short name ( Das Erste ) in 1994. ARD's programmes are aired over its own terrestrial broadcast network, as well as via cable, satellite and IPTV. ARD also produces two free-to-air channels ( one and Tagesschau24 ) and participates in

7878-595: The orientation of " Deutschlandfunk " (Germany's national public radio station, associated with, but not a member of the ARD) programs towards the GDR were of importance to the eventual collapse of the GDR. Established in 1974, the ARD bureau in East Berlin made ARD television the most important source of information for GDR citizens, eighty percent of whom could watch what they referred to as "Westfernsehen". Notwithstanding obstruction on

7979-460: The owner's or occupier's permission to enter. Also, the public media are frequently accused of producing pro-government propaganda and not being independent public broadcasters. Due to widespread non-payment of the licence fee, in 2020 the government gave a 2 billion złoty grant for public media. From September 2003, the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) was financed through government grants and

8080-671: The part of GDR authorities and the repeated expulsion of their correspondents, the ARD-Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk transmitted a report about the Leipzig Monday Demonstrations (which started on 4 September 1989) as early as September 1989. After the unification and the closure of the Deutscher Fernsehfunk , two new regional broadcasters were established in the East, becoming ARD members in 1992. These were originally

8181-490: The previous regulations, the deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers who were legally deaf had been exempt. However, they started to contribute in 2013 in spite of relatively few hours of TV programming with closed-captioning. Sign Dialog , the working group of German Association of the Deaf, has nominated that they are more willing to pay the full rate once the milestone of 100% closed-captioning programming has been reached. In August 2021,

8282-413: The producer or importer of the television receiving equipment. Consumers indirectly pay this fee when purchasing equipment. No registration is required for television receiving equipment, except for cellular phones as mandated by a separate law. TRT also receives funding via advertisements. Previously a 2 per cent tax was added to monthly electricity bills but this has been abolished. A television licence

8383-713: The production of Phoenix (current events, news and documentaries), KiKa (kids-oriented), 3sat (cultural-oriented), arte (Franco-German cultural programming), and Funk (teenage-oriented, online only). ARD's programming is produced by its regional members (see also Institutions and member organizations ) ( Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Radio Bremen , Rundfunk Berlin–Brandenburg (RBB), Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)), which operate 54 regional and local radio stations and seven regional TV networks, some of which have opt-outs at during

8484-647: The programmed content) and the Verwaltungsrat (Administration Council, responsible for management and infrastructure), in which different stakeholders from German public life were represented. ARD's founding members were Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), the station for the former British zone, Südwestfunk (SWF), the station in the French zone, and four stations located in the former American sector— Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), and Radio Bremen (RB). The new entity

8585-780: The reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface. The radio studio in Strasbourg, which was closed in July 2010 and previously operated by SWR, was responsible for the European Parliament . Since then, reporting has been carried out from Brussels and Paris. The ARD radio studio in Zurich was closed in August 2021. Since then, reporting has been carried out from Geneva. The ARD radio studio in Buenos Aires

8686-429: The self-employed must pay for a licence for each television and radio. The licence fee in Germany is €18.36 per month (€220 per annum) for all apartments, secondary residences, holiday homes and summer houses. Since 2003 it has been payable regardless of possession or use of television and radio. Businesses and institutions must pay, based on factors including numbers of employees, vehicles and, for hotels, beds. The fee

8787-476: The self-employed pay this amount for each set, and pay higher rates where they are intended for public viewing rather than private use by employees. The licence fee is used to fund the national broadcaster RTV Slovenija . In 2007, the licence fee raised €78.1 million, approximately 68 per cent of the broadcaster's operating revenue. RTV Slovenija's advertising income in 2007 was €21.6 million. Any household that receives radio or television programs from

8888-476: The shutdown of the analogue transmitters started in 2003. Das Erste and the third programmes, like the radio stations, are principally funded by licence fees, with a very limited amount of on-air advertising. Das Erste broadcasts nationwide 24 hours a day. However, the schedule does include four and a half hours of joint programming with ZDF each weekday, in the form of the news programmes Morgenmagazin (on air 5.30–9.00) and Mittagsmagazin (13.00–14.00), which

8989-516: The smaller SFB was split off. The first daily news feature, the Tagesschau , went on the air from Hamburg in 1952. The famous 8:00 pm chime and announcement " Hier ist das Erste Deutsche Fernsehen mit der Tagesschau " ("This is the first German television channel with the Tagesschau") remains an ARD hallmark today. The broadcast attracts an average of 8 million viewers. After starting with

9090-517: The state broadcasting institutions. Since January 1, 1976, the Beitragsservice (known as GEZ until 2013) has collected Rundfunkgebühren (broadcast licence fees) as set in the Rundfunkfinanzierungsstaatsvertrag . This had previously been the responsibility of Deutsche Bundespost , the West German federal post office. The GEZ's tasks in detail were: On December 31, 1976, 18.5 million TV sets and 20.4 million radios were registered in

9191-523: The tax office or from pay) to recover the amount due contribution (which is not tax), on the grounds that the Beitragsservice is a private organisation and not part of the state. People have been jailed for not paying the fee. One was later released after the charges were dropped due to criticism from both public and private media. [REDACTED] Media related to ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice at Wikimedia Commons Television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence

9292-652: The treaty. Usage and costs of television licences vary greatly between countries. The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago reports that two-thirds of countries in Europe and half of countries in Asia and Africa use television licences to fund public television. Television licensing is rare in the Americas, largely confined to British Overseas Territories . In some countries, radio channels and broadcasters' websites are also funded by

9393-642: The two organizations take weekly turns to produce. Audience share (March 2008):12.5%, from 14 to 49 years 6.9%. The regional members of ARD all, jointly (NDR/rb and SWR/SR) or separately, operate their own regional channels, known collectively as die Dritten ("the Third Programmes") – before recent rebranding, most of these stations had names like West 3 and Hessen 3. The schedules of these regional channels also include sub-regional opt-outs at certain times, in particular for local news. ARD has three additional channels as part of their ARD Digital package: ARD

9494-415: Was a referendum on whether TV licensing should be scrapped, with the slogan "No Billag", a reference to the previous collector of the licence fees. Parliament have advocated a no vote. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by 71.6 to 28.4 per cent and in all cantons. Following the vote, the fee was significantly reduced. A licence fee of up to 16 per cent is paid to the state broadcaster TRT by

9595-512: Was abolished on 1 April 2014, leaving these services to be funded by the UK licence fee, a move which has caused some controversy. Channel 4 is also a public television service but it is funded through advertising. The Welsh language S4C is funded through a combination of a direct grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and advertising, and receives some programming free of charge from

9696-585: Was closed in 2022. Since then, reporting has been carried out from Rio de Janeiro. The studio for Turkey and Iran (radio) is in Istanbul, see above. The ARD radio studio in Amman was closed in 2013. It only has a branch office in Cairo, from where reporting has been carried out ever since. Since it was founded in 2013, the German party AfD has accused the German broadcasters of being state-driven propaganda machines. This claim

9797-456: Was financed by an obligatory fee that every German household with at least one radio receiver paid. Each station received the money collected in its state. Larger ARD members subsidised smaller ones up to a certain extent. In 1947, American military governor Lucius D. Clay declared diversity of public opinion as the main aim of post-war media policy . Individuals aligned with the post-war Allied forces in their respective sectors of Germany had

9898-538: Was granted to TG4 . RTÉ is now required to provide TG4 with programming. The remainder of TG4's funding is from direct state grants and commercial income. The licence fee in Italy is charged to each household with a television set, regardless of use, and to all public premises with one or more televisions or radios. In 2016, the government reduced the licence fee to €100 per household and incorporated it into electricity bills in an attempt to eliminate evasion, and as of 2018,

9999-478: Was more than €7.9 billion. The board of public broadcasters sued the German states for interference with their budgeting process, and on 11 September 2007, the Supreme Court decided in their favour. This effectively rendered the public broadcasters independent and self-governing. Public broadcasters have announced that they are determined to use all available ways to reach their "customers" and as such have started

10100-576: Was the goal of the ARD from the outset and the go-ahead for this was given at the end of 1952. The same year ARD was admitted as a fully active member of the European Broadcasting Union and the "German sound archive", now German Broadcasting Archive (DRA, D eutsches R undfunk a rchiv), was established as a joint facility of the ARD. In 1955 the founding member NWDR ("Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk", English: "North-West German Broadcasting") split into today's NDR and WDR. The year before (1954)

10201-546: Was €682 million, 66 per cent of which was allocated to the ORF. The remaining 34 per cent was allocated to the federal government and local governments to fund cultural activities. GIS employs 191 people and has approximately 125 freelancers in the field service. 3.4 million Austrian households are registered with the GIS with 2.5 per cent evading the licence. The television & radio licence fee varies between states . As of 2022, Styria has

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