German business group seeks change in broadcast license fees
Michael Hedges September 3, 2004
The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) proposed changes in the system that collects broadcast license fees.
“The participation in the broadcast increases with the number of users but not with the number of receivers, “ said DIHK managing director Martin Wansleben.
Starting in 2007, businesses and institutions with internet-enabled PCs would be charged the broadcast license fee per unit, like radio or television receivers.
Using hotels as an example, Wansleben said, “the hotels don’t see television and the hotel guests have already paid the (license) fee.”
The license fee collecting agency – the GEZ - maintains that PCs are capable of receiving radio and television programs but internet users have no direct obligation to pay.
The DIHK says the license fee plan “is not justified” and must be changed. Under an agreement set in 2000 internet enabled PCs are exempt from broadcast license fee until the end of 2006.
The DIHK argues that PCs should not be charged since businesses do not consider them radios. License fee “inconsistencies” would be settled, the group said, once calculation is no longer based on the number of receivers.
In January the KEF – the commission charged with determining the financial needs of the public broadcasting companies – announced an increase in the broadcast license fees to 17.24 euro per household effective January 1st, 2005. German households currently pay 16.15 euro per month for television receivers or 5.32 euros for radio only. Businesses are charged per receiver.
Several German States have open resisted an increase in the license fee. Bavarian state minister Erwin Huber called the increases “a leftover from the fat years.”
ftm Follow Up & Comments
Finland, Norway Report Surge in TV Tax Payments – October 23, 2006
Norwegian and Finnish officials report higher than usual payments of broadcast license fees during the week following heavy news coverage of Swedish cabinet ministers forced to resign after being caught out.
Norway’s NRK reported a one-week five-fold increase in broadcast tax payments, about 500, according to Aftenposten. A spokesperson linked the increase to media coverage of “the Swedish ministers’ relationship to TV licenses.”
Over 3500 new fee payers, about 1000 more than the previous week, were reported in Finland. Media regulator FICORA spokesperson told Finnish News Agency STT the increase was not “exceptional” and research would be necessary to determine “which other factors have influenced the willingness to apply” for the licenses.
NRK’s spokesperson said no government officials were among the new Norwegian license tax payers.
No change in license fee collections have been reported in Denmark or Germany where residents are seething at government intentions to increase tax payments supporting public broadcasting by including more household items such as personal computers and mobile telephones.
Sweden’s Press Shows Its Power - October 16, 2006
Within a week of Sweden’s new center-right government being sworn in the trade minister is out because the media uncovered that in the 1990s she employed a nanny and didn’t pay employment taxes.
And the culture minister, who oversees the country’s broadcast networks, is in trouble since she hasn’t paid the 1500 kronor (160 Euro) radio and TV license fee for some 16 years.
The trade minister, Maria Borelius, and her husband are in the upper crust of Sweden’s wealthy, so it didn’t go down well, either, when the media found out that their summer home is owned by an offshore company which means it wasn’t paying property tax.
Not exactly an auspicious start for Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s first week in office, but a great week for a free press.
Whither the License Fee? - October 11, 2006
The broadcast license fee, the tax on receiving devices supporting public broadcasting, may disappear in the German state of Bavaria. The Green Party is behind a move to kill the tax altogether before it applies to internet-attached PCs and multi-media mobile phones next year.
Meanwhile, the Swiss government is reviewing the financing of public broadcaster SSR-SRG with the likelihood of increasing what is already the highest per household license fee in the world.
| 