Fight for higher fees

The secret ORF savings plan: TV stations and orchestras

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/picturedesk.com)

The ORF and money! If the ÖVP prevails in the coalition negotiations, the unpopular budget levy will be frozen - then on the list of cuts: Two TV stations, the radio symphony orchestra and hundreds of employees.

The topic of media has become even more explosive in the coalition negotiations due to the meeting between Minister Susanne Raab and ex-ORF General Alexander Wrabetz as one of her successors. It has been leaked that the ÖVP wants to abolish the valorization, i.e. the inflation adjustment of the budget levy, as has already happened with passport and other federal fees.

This applies to the next term of office from 2027. Raab's entourage says that the Küniglberg "will probably be able to save a few percent of its billion-euro budget".

ORF has a huge budget of more than one billion euros. Surely it will be possible to save a few percentage points.

Insider aus dem Umfeld von Medienministerin Susanne Raab

SPÖ veto against freezing the budget levy
The SPÖ with Wrabetz and the red ORF Foundation Councilor Heinz Lederer are apparently insisting on a "gentle" increase in the compulsory fee (currently EUR 15.30 per month plus individual state fees) for more than four million households and companies. Incidentally, the last increase was eight percent for five years from 2022.

There is also fierce resistance to a "zero-fee round" from the state broadcaster. Küniglberg argues that the ORF fee would be around 30 percent higher than it is now if the inflation of the past 20 years were fully taken into account. In addition, several billion euros have already been saved over these two decades. According to the broadcaster's internal calculations, a freeze on the household fee would result in a shortfall of 60 million euros.

Weißmann has a tough list of cuts in a drawer
The tough, secret savings plan in Director General Roland Weißmann's drawer provides for a veritable concert of cuts: In addition to (once again) the Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sport +, ORF III is also on the list! This would mean that the lights would go out for two out of four TV stations, i.e. half of them. The shutdown of the FM4 radio station is also repeatedly reported. But even that would "only" generate around 30-35 million euros.

The rest would have to come from a large personnel package. By cutting 400 to 500 employees, almost a third of them in the regional studios, the rest in the Vienna headquarters. As reported, the head of the green ORF Foundation Council, Lothar Lockl, had already sounded the alarm in the "Krone" newspaper and warned of a future "media desert".

More digital tax for domestic media
However, the ÖVP and SPÖ are likely to agree on increasing the digital tax for the domestic media landscape. This is also about promoting the delivery of quality journalism and not so-called alternative media with sometimes crude conspiracy theories. The future criteria for this should be employment according to the collective agreement and not circumventing constructs with wage dumping, as is the case with some free papers.