Only one-in-three pay TV and radio subscription in Poland

An annual subscription for access to public TV and radio in Poland costs the equivalent of just 45 euros: in the UK, the cost of a BBC licence is 199 euros – in Germany, 200 euros per annum (at 2009 prices).

"In most European Union countries the percentage of [those not paying] the subscription does not exceed 10 percent,” says Jolanta Wisniewska, President of the Association of Public Media Employers.

“In the UK, 5.2 percent [don't pay subscriptions], 5 percent in the Czech Republic., 4 percent in Austria., 2 percent in Germany. Poland stands out significantly in this regard.”

Wisniewska says that the method of collecting the funding lies at the root of why so few Poles pay for public media.

“From next year in Finland, public media will be financed from taxes, in Slovakia from the state budget, while in France there is a mixed system, which is based on both on tax and license fee,” she says.

In the last parliamentary term the Civic Platform-led coalition wanted to abolish the public media licence – arguing that it was effectively an uncollectable tax – had move to a system where individual ministries – education, culture and so on – make contributions to the upkeep of TVP television and Polish Radio. This plan was vetoed by the late President Lech Kaczynski and was opposed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Now the debate continues on how to fund public media as it faces another difficult year, financially. (pg)