Babiš proposes voluntary fees for Czech Television and Radio

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has said the government is preparing an alternative way of funding public media, without direct payments from the state budget. He suggested that citizens could pay voluntarily, and the coalition will discuss a specific model at a meeting on Monday.

Babiš spoke about it on Saturday on the TV Nova programme. According to him, he met Czech Television director general Hynek Chudárek on Friday. The prime minister does not yet have a ready proposal: “I’m looking. We will propose voluntariness: whoever wants to pay can, and whoever doesn’t want to won’t,” he said, adding that the state would guarantee a certain amount in the process. At the same time, the government wants to abolish the fees for companies.

Any changes must first be approved by the coalition partners: the SPD, whose programme includes abolishing licence fees, and the Motorists.

Separately, Babiš promised that during the second reading of the media bill the opposition will be allowed to speak “without limits”. The coalition finished the first reading with a vote at 4:36 a.m. on Saturday, which angered the opposition and part of the public. Babiš countered that the debate had already lasted 14.5 hours and that the opposition, in his words, “wanted to prevent the document from being discussed at all”.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz