More importantly, the fees collected directly fund the public broadcaster. Slovakia had a similar system, then the politicians decided to cancel the fees and m

More importantly, the fees collected directly fund the public broadcaster. Slovakia had a similar system, then the politicians decided to cancel the fees and make it so the public broadcaster is funded out of ministry of culture budget instead. Now it's a year later and surprise, surprise, the new government which has gripes with the press has just cut the public broadcaster budget by 33%. If it was still funded by “tv licences” it would be much harder to do that.