'A New Funding System for the Public Broadcasting Companies Set out by the Interstate Treaty on Broadcasting Licence Fees'



How should the public broadcasting companies in Germany be funded in order to guarantee their constitutionally enshrined independence? Through taxes or licence fees? In 2013 a new law entered into force and adhered to a fee-based model. However, it no longer requires the fee debtor to be in the possession of a radio or TV. Instead it levies a charge on households and business premises. This regulatory technique could actually represent a disguised - unconstitutional - tax.