The PMA Briefing

Funding pressures and state media reform

4 August 2026

In Taiwan, the board of PTS has objected to a proposal to freeze almost half of the government’s allocation to the public broadcaster. Meanwhile in Slovenia, citizens will be consulted on the abolition of the licence fee in a referendum in October. In Nepal, the newly formed Ministry of Information and Communication is pressing for a restructuring of national media.

Taiwan: PTS board raises alarm over proposed budget cuts

The board of directors and supervisors of Taiwan’s Public Television Service (PTS) have objected to a proposal by the Legislative Yuan to slash the broadcaster’s annual budget, warning that significant funding cuts would undermine its ability to fulfil its public service remit and weaken an essential cornerstone of the country’s democratic society.

Lawmakers have suggested reducing and freezing almost 50% of the government’s allocation to PTS – amounting to more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) – as part of a review of the broadcaster’s annual budget. In its response statement, the board emphasised that any reductions would be a direct hit on children’s, youth, drama and cultural programming, as well as completely eliminating the country’s first English-language streaming platform, TaiwanPlus.

The board also rejected suggestions that the proposed cuts were due to PTS’s failure to appoint a new board of directors and supervisors. It stressed that responsibility for the appointments lies with the Executive Yuan and a cross-party review committee established by legislature, not with PTS itself, and therefore should not be penalised for delays beyond its control.

Nepal: New ministry moves to advance restructuring of state media

Nepal’s newly formed Ministry of Information and Communication has said it will accelerate the restructuring of the country’s public media institutions and telecommunications services, alongside efforts to improve “digital good governance.” The announcement came during an annual progress review of the 2025/2026 fiscal year, chaired by Information and Communication Minister Dr. Bikram Timilsina, who directed agencies under the ministry to meet their annual targets more effectively. The ministry itself is only months old, having been created in May 2026 when Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s government reduced the federal cabinet from 22 to 18 ministries. The digital governance functions were transferred separately to the Prime Minister’s Office.

There is no further detail on the scope of the announced restructuring, and no indication whether it is simply financial and administrative or will also include legislative changes.

The push follows a series of directives from Timilsina in recent months ordering the country’s state media institutions to resolve long-standing financial backlogs. The minister told agency heads that annual audits at Public Service Broadcasting Nepal (PSBN) – formed by the 2025 merger of Radio Nepal and Nepal Television – and Gorkhapatra Corporation had not been completed since the 2022/2023 fiscal year, and ordered them to do so by mid-January 2027. According to Timilsina, the delayed audits had undermined fiscal discipline and public trust in the institutions. At the same time, he called on the organisations to recover more than Rs 750 million in outstanding arrears, owed by government bodies, advertisers, and service users.

Slovenia: A referendum to decide on the future of RTV SLO’s funding

Slovenians will be consulted on the future of the public broadcaster’s licence fee in October, after the governing parties introduced a non-binding referendum proposal on abolishing the RTV SLO contribution, which currently costs around €14 a month per household.

Under the current system, the obligation to pay the public broadcasting contribution is linked to the ownership of any device capable of receiving broadcast content.

The ruling conservative coalition argued the current licence fee system may not reflect the realities of today’s media landscape, technological advancements and consumption habits and as such, needs to be reassessed. Additionally, the Resnica party called for RTV SLO’s workforce to be reduced to 1,500 employees within the next five years.

The RTV SLO licence fee still represents the main source of funding for the public broadcaster, accounting for approximately 67% of its revenues. As the referendum would be non-binding, however, the outcome would not automatically impact the RTV SLO’s funding. Any final decision would remain in the hands of the parliament.

Should the parliament decide to abolish the licence fee, RTV SLO’s funding would be transferred to the state budget determined on an annual basis. The Peace Institute has warned against a funding mechanism entirely dependent on the state, arguing it could increase the public broadcaster’s dependence on the government and risks exposing it to greater political influence.