4 ms·

It's like in Germany where each household/flat has to pay an amount of money per month (~18€) for stuff like public television, radio and some internet presence

by Lev1a 10y ago

It's like in Germany where each household/flat has to pay an amount of money per month (~18€) for stuff like public television, radio and some internet presences of the state. The TV+Radio portion of this money-grabbing monstrosity is called "Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk" (roughly "Public broadcasting") which still is plastered with ads all over. Also you get into this system when you move in to a apartement/flat/house because the institution that collects this fee somehow has the right to collect such information but is conveniently not a government body and not "rechtsfähig" (meaning they can't be sued). Also really convenient is the fact that courts in Germany have time and time again approved this institution's operations... Well, the rest of an overview is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beitragsservice_von_ARD,_ZDF_und_Deutschlandradio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beitragsservice_von_ARD,_ZDF_u...

sdoering 10y ago
Well lots of countries do have public broadcasting. There is an extensive list compiled here. [1] It even does have its uses, if it were not for the abomination it is in Germany. If it were not for the fact, that the public broadcasters are controlled by political parties and clearly are everything but unbalanced (ok, compared to the US they are, but non the less). I would gladly pay the money for them, if it were not for the fact, that most of this goes into financing soccer rights and formula 1 rights. And some "Volksmusik" shit and such. I have to pay (being a German citizen with our own household). I could clearly see a real usecase for public broadcasting, not tied to advertising revenue, doing real investigative journalism and doing great documentations. But I am being naive here. And a dreamer. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting
- Lev1a 10y ago
  My blood also gets easily to the boiling point if I see the public broadcasters complaining about not having enough money while simultaneously opening a new radio station only for "Schlager"-music (old-fashioned music listened to primarily by old people reminiscing about the "good old times") and paying the higher-ups of the TV broadcasters obscene amounts of money...
  - sdoering 10y ago
    I am with you on that track. Funny also to see how much money non the less ist generated (and used/needed) via advertising. It is the larges part of the monetary cake by far that is coming fromEZ Gebühren" (what I have to pay as a citizen) is somewhat around 1/7th of the overall budget (as far as I remember).
germanier 10y ago
> not a government body and not "rechtsfähig" (meaning they can't be sued) This meme has to die as quick as possible. The public broadcasters themselves are "rechtsfähig" and can be sued. Every letter you get clearly says which public broadcaster is responsible for it and that name is written in large font in its header. They make use of a central office (the Beitragsservice) to collect the fees for effiency reasons so that they don't need to have employees for that in every of the nine local broadcasters. Everything they do is done in the name of one public broadcaster. They just happen to use a common brand name for that work. Google found me this example letter: http://www.nickles.de/user/images/14/fa13e73ef7b155fc445577778ce7be08241d0f34.jpg http://www.nickles.de/user/images/14/fa13e73ef7b155fc4455777... Note how it says "Bayerischer Rundfunk" all over and tells you how to file a lawsuit – just as every official letter of a public institution does. This can be seen all over public administration. Your local tax office is also not "rechtsfähig" and you can't sue it (but you can sue the state in which name it operates). You still wouldn't come to the conclusion that you shouldn't pay The broadcasters are a public body (and not a private firm) but not part of the government. This is similar to the position of the pension insurers, health funds, most Sparkasse banks, the IHK and many more institutions.

by Lev1a 10y ago

sdoering 10y ago

Well lots of countries do have public broadcasting. There is an extensive list compiled here. [1] It even does have its uses, if it were not for the abomination it is in Germany. If it were not for the fact, that the public broadcasters are controlled by political parties and clearly are everything but unbalanced (ok, compared to the US they are, but non the less). I would gladly pay the money for them, if it were not for the fact, that most of this goes into financing soccer rights and formula 1 rights. And some "Volksmusik" shit and such. I have to pay (being a German citizen with our own household). I could clearly see a real usecase for public broadcasting, not tied to advertising revenue, doing real investigative journalism and doing great documentations. But I am being naive here. And a dreamer. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_broadcasting

Lev1a 10y ago
My blood also gets easily to the boiling point if I see the public broadcasters complaining about not having enough money while simultaneously opening a new radio station only for "Schlager"-music (old-fashioned music listened to primarily by old people reminiscing about the "good old times") and paying the higher-ups of the TV broadcasters obscene amounts of money...
- sdoering 10y ago
  I am with you on that track. Funny also to see how much money non the less ist generated (and used/needed) via advertising. It is the larges part of the monetary cake by far that is coming fromEZ Gebühren" (what I have to pay as a citizen) is somewhat around 1/7th of the overall budget (as far as I remember).

germanier 10y ago

> not a government body and not "rechtsfähig" (meaning they can't be sued) This meme has to die as quick as possible. The public broadcasters themselves are "rechtsfähig" and can be sued. Every letter you get clearly says which public broadcaster is responsible for it and that name is written in large font in its header. They make use of a central office (the Beitragsservice) to collect the fees for effiency reasons so that they don't need to have employees for that in every of the nine local broadcasters. Everything they do is done in the name of one public broadcaster. They just happen to use a common brand name for that work. Google found me this example letter: http://www.nickles.de/user/images/14/fa13e73ef7b155fc445577778ce7be08241d0f34.jpg http://www.nickles.de/user/images/14/fa13e73ef7b155fc4455777... Note how it says "Bayerischer Rundfunk" all over and tells you how to file a lawsuit – just as every official letter of a public institution does. This can be seen all over public administration. Your local tax office is also not "rechtsfähig" and you can't sue it (but you can sue the state in which name it operates). You still wouldn't come to the conclusion that you shouldn't pay The broadcasters are a public body (and not a private firm) but not part of the government. This is similar to the position of the pension insurers, health funds, most Sparkasse banks, the IHK and many more institutions.