The so -called Great Media amendment, which MEPs were saving since July last year, went through the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday. The changes that increase the license fees for the public service media, the coalition eventually succeeded in enforcing 99 votes, 89 deputies were against. The voting procedure in the House lasted almost an hour, as the deputies submitted dozens of amendments to the amendment, informs the TASR rapporteur.
According to the amendment, the television fee should increase by 15 crowns to 150 crowns (5.99 euros) and radio by 10 crowns to 55 crowns (EUR 2.2) from next year. It should be paid not only by the owners of radio and television receivers, but also by households in which someone owns a device capable of receiving online broadcasting, a tablet or smartphone. It also introduces valorisation of fees if inflation has exceeded six percent since the last change.
While the coalition deputies argue that the increase in fees is necessary, because the television has not changed since 2008 and in the case of radio since 2005, the opposition has criticized the proposal hard. According to her, the government’s efforts are to corrupt the public service media and tie them more. They would prefer the merger of Czech Television and Czech Radio to one institution that would be financed from the state budget. However, Minister of Culture Martin Baxa objected that it is thanks to concessions that these media will remain independent.
The opposition has been obstructed for a long time. In the new round, MEPs began to negotiate in mid -July. In the last – third – reading the opposition blocked him for five days.
“You are the graves of Czech Television and Czech Radio. You have just achieved the exact opposite of what you intended. Built -in valorisation, households without television and radio, casinoing companies and high fines for anyone who will not be submitted. Any new government will have to clean up this passport, ”said Alena Schillerová, head of the Opposition Movement Group, after the vote. She added that if the YES movement is in the next government, this law will change first.
The proposal will still be assessed by the Senate, then heading for the signature of the President. “I am sure that the law in the Senate will pass and we will continue to have effectively funded and strong public media,” Baxa wrote after voting on Social Network X.
