Germany's web of public radio and TV stations want to bump the fee paid by every household to at least €18.35 from €17.50 – or else.

(Source: dpa) What the fee financed in December.

Top officials at Germany’s public television broadcasters said they want to increase the monthly fee paid by each German household to fund the country’s public television and radio stations. In an interview with the DPA news agency, Thomas Bellut, head of broadcaster ZDF, said the stations are currently spending the equivalent of €18.35 ($21.01) per German household per month, above the €17.50 fee, by tapping reserves.

“This is the bare minimum. Anything less than that would be a cut that could only be met with steep cuts in programming,” Bellut warned, saying the cuts would lead to lower-quality programming.

Both Bellut and Ulrich Wilhelm, head of broadcaster ARD, talked to DPA after top politicians from the country’s 16 states discussed changing how the public broadcasters are funded but reached no conclusions. Should the lawmakers balk at giving the broadcasters more cash, Wilhelm said they might ask Germany's constitutional court to force a fee hike.

Every household in Germany is required to pay the €17.50 monthly fee, regardless of whether or not they use the service or even own the proper equipment. The fee is intended to maintain a media watchdog independent of political meddling through national television stations ARD and ZDF as well as local radio and TV stations such as Bayerische Rundfunk in southern Germany and Norddeutsche Rundfunk in the north.

Costs, not inflation

However, it also finances entertainment often considered mediocre such as long-running crime series "Tatort" and music shows featuring the country's most expensive pop singers such as Helene Fischer. Traditionally, a special committee sets the fee every four years based on a budget from the broadcasters but politicians are now considering coupling the current fee to an inflation index, relieving the committee of the funding task. The €17.50 runs through 2020.

“But we’re not talking about an index that would cover our actual cost increases,” the ARD’s Wilhelm was quoted by DPA. “The broadcasting-specific inflation rate which, for example, covers changes in costs for rights to music, film or sporting events, was about 17 percent between 2009 and 2017 while inflation rose just 10.6 percent.”

Germans have tried to challenge the unpopular fee but the European Court in Luxembourg earlier this month turned down a suit claiming it constituted an illegal government intervention in competition. The decision bolstered the fee model, which was also ruled as constitutional by the country’s top court in July.

You've got mail

Collecting the cash is not straightforward. Supported by the lawsuits, the service that collects the money – nearly €8 billion last year – said it would send out 2.93 million letters seeking clarification from individuals not yet paying the fee. The service compared its database with those of local registry offices from May and wants to know if those not already paying the fee should be.

The figure could climb to a total 3.6 million letters by the end of 2019, the service told DPA, though it’s unclear how much extra the letters could drum up because many of the people may live in households that already pay the fee, or have simply moved.

Andrew Bulkeley is an editor in Berlin for Handelsblatt Global. To contact the author: [email protected]