STATEMENT

PMA opposes the Czech government’s draft law on public service media

15 April 2026

PMA stands in solidarity with Czech Television and Czech Radio against the Czech Republic government’s draft law on public service media, which looks to replace the existing licence fee model with direct state budget funding.

The Public Media Alliance (PMA) is deeply concerned by the Czech government’s draft law on public service media, which looks to replace the existing licence fee model with direct state budget funding from January 2027.

PMA has long maintained that secure, independent financing is not incidental to public service media, but is rather what makes genuine editorial independence possible in practice. In the current Czech context, there are real fears that the proposed funding model will amount to capture of the country’s public media, especially if implemented without sufficient regulatory or legislative protections for independence, leading to structural dependency.

We stand in solidarity with our public media colleagues at Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (ČRo), and support the objections raised by their leadership. ČT Director General Hynek Chudárek has emphasised that licence fees remain the only model under which the broadcaster can sustain its current scope of public service and meet its long-term commitments, and that the proposed alternative is neither sufficiently predictable nor financially equivalent. Similarly, ČRo Director General René Zavoral has said there is no rational basis for the change; instead, dismantling a system specifically designed to insulate public media from political power can only be seen as an attempt to weaken these institutions and subject them to political control.

We call on the Czech government to engage in genuine consultation with ČT and ČRo, to adhere to principles outlined in Article 5 of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), and to pursue any reform through a transparent process that puts editorial and organisational independence as well as long-term financial sustainability first.