Denmark is joining the growing number of European countries that have scrapped the licence fee for public broadcasting.
The Danish government has agreed on a new media agreement that is expected to come into effect on January 1, 2019. The new measures means a cut in DR’s budget of 20% and will do away with the TV/media licence. The measure was taken by the VLAK government with the support of the Dansk Folkeparti party.
Over the next five years, DR’s program area will hit hard, said DR director general Maria Rørbye Rønn.
“A saving of DKK773 million is a lot of money and it will have major consequences for the production of newly produced Danish content. It will be something that can be seen by viewers, listeners and users,” told Rønn to Borsen.dk
“My task now is to make a savings plan that ensures that there is a balance in DR’s economy. It will also ensure that we have a strategy for how DR will develop in a new media settlement period. And then it’s my very big task of conducting dialogue and being open to the communication with DR employees, who are naturally worried after such a announcement today.”
At the moment, Danes pay a yearly fee of DKR2,527.00 (€339), of which public broadcaster DR receives the bulk, to the tune of DKR3.7 billion this year. Part of the licence fee also goes to the regional windows of TV2, which are mainly financed by advertising.
Among the European countries that have abolished the public broadcasting licence fee are Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. There is no licence fee in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Russia, Spain and Ukraine.
