To pay, or not to pay

As the new government takes its baby steps, a new controversy has erupted over the funding for public media.

According to the ruling party, Civic Platform (PO), broadcast receiver licenses - in essence a tax on owning a television or radio - should be abolished. Instead, they say, public TV could be funded from the state budget. Alternatively, the party has suggested public media could rely solely on advertising revenue.

"Poles do not understand why they should pay for cable TV or digital platforms and also for owning a TV or radio," PO deputy Iwona Âledzińska-Katarasińska told Dziennik daily.

According to Jakub Bierzyƒski, president of Omnicom Media Group (OMD), a media house, only about 40 percent of the public pays the tax, a figure which has been decreasing steadily. Last year revenues reached almost zł.0.9 billion. Meanwhile, public TV's advertising revenue was zł.1.1 billion last year, and sales of commercial air time have grown by 40 percent this year.

"We need to ask three main questions about the public media: their role in society, the way they are funded, and their independence from politicians," said Bierzyński. He stressed that public television can function very well without the license revenues, especially since people prefer watching more commercials to paying the quarterly fee.

Yet, while TV may rely on the advertising revenue only, public radio is 73-percent funded via subscription fees. The abolition of the fee would be a threat to national culture and public debate, claimed the president of Polish Radio, Krzysztof Czabański, in an open letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He claimed that public radio would not survive the change.

Polish public TV includes seven national stations, with 16 regional broadcasters. Polish Radio has six national stations and 17 regional stations.