Czech public TV and radio strike: broadcasts cut for a day

Staff at Czech Television and Czech Radio have been on strike since midnight to protest the government's plan to move the funding of public media under the state budget. Both outlets are operating in a limited mode, and the strike will last one day.

Banners reading “Strike” and “4:36 is not the end, but the beginning” hang on the television and radio buildings. Viewers and listeners are getting a reduced schedule: on ČT24, short news bulletins without reports alternate with archive programs, and the morning and evening news shows and other programs have disappeared from the lineup. On Czech Radio stations, regular programs have mostly been replaced by music or reruns.

Why the protest began

Workers joined the strike in response to the recent fast-tracking of a bill to abolish media fees in the Chamber of Deputies. It was sent to a second reading in the early hours of Oct. 24, at 4:36, and that time has become one of the symbols of the protests.

Michal Kubal, editor-in-chief of ČT's news service, called the day unprecedented in the history of Czech public media. In an interview, he relayed what coalition politicians had told him, which, according to him, was that they do not like ČT and want to get back at it.

Who is backing the strike and how the authorities are reacting

Television and radio will be supported by other media, students and theater ensembles. The protest will be complemented by marches and rallies in the squares of Prague, Brno, Ostrava and other cities.

Among members of the government, Minister for Sport, Prevention and Health Boris Šťastný (Motorists) has already responded to the strike. In a post on the social network X, he wrote that the limited broadcasting interested him more than the usual kind.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz