The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has granted the country’s cash-strapped public broadcaster BAM 4m to contribute to studio and production facilities in HD.
The payment is also intended to cover BHRT’s broadcast rights to Euro 2024 and Summer Olympics.
Earlier this month, BHRT warned that it was on the brink of collapse, amid difficulties in the collection of its licence fee. Elektroprivreda BiH, the state-owned utility, failed to include the Radio & Television tax on its January bills, depriving BHRT of its sole source of income. The country’s other two PSBs, RTRS and RTVFBiH, have over time accumulated funds that should have been directed at BHRT.
“This is the first step. The second one must be the urgent appointment of the FTV management structures in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to regulate the method of collecting the RTV tax within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a fair manner. The third step is the adoption of a new law that will permanently regulate the stability of public services and from which all three services will have stronger support than today”, said the state-level Minister of Communications and Transport, Edin Forto.
Bosnia was granted EU candidate status in December 2022, but its acceptance into the European Union is subject to 14 priorities that include the financial stability of public services.
Last month the EBU, called for a resolution into the funding crisis and offered to help find a solution to the complex funding situation.
