Representatives of the opposition ANO and SPD are talking about changes in flat tax fees and the fact that households will now have to pay for equipment capable of receiving broadcasts in any way, including via the Internet, not only with a TV or radio receiver as before. On the contrary, according to the Minister of Culture Martin Baxa (ODS), the amendment will contribute to the stabilization of Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (ČRo) and will ensure the long-term sustainability of their activities.
On Wednesday, the opposition MPs resented the progress of the government camp, which, pointing to obstructions, pushed for a fixed time for the end of the regular discussion. Because of this, 18 registered MPs from ANO and SPD did not get to speak.
ANO and SPD MPs want, for example, to maintain the current amount of the fee in separate amendments, which the amendment increases for CT by 15 crowns to 150 crowns per month and for the Czech Republic by 10 crowns to 55 crowns per month. The proposals of the ANO and SPD legislators include the deletion of the fee valorization rules and their preservation in their current form for companies. According to the government amendment, the valorization mechanism consists in a fee increase of six percent in the event that the sum of annual inflation rates exceeds six percent. According to the draft, the amount of the fee paid by legal entities will no longer depend on the number of receivers, but on the number of employees.
Media fees will increase in the first half of next year, Baxa believes
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ANO, SPD and Pirátů MPs also want to delete from the draft the provision according to which households have to pay for devices capable of receiving broadcasts in any way, i.e. for mobile phones, tablets or computers. According to the Pirates, it is practically a fee from these devices. ANO and SPD propose to extend the vetting powers of the Supreme Audit Office to CT and CRo. The inclusion of the councilors of the Czech Republic and the Czech Republic under the Act on Conflict of Interests is part of the pirated amendments. For example, they would have to write out property notices.
Among the proposals of the government members are the regulation of broadcasting of CT broadcasts abroad or the extension of the exemption from payment of fees to associations and employers with more than half of the workers with disabilities. Both public media should use data from the social security administration to check the number of employees. Coalition MPs want to replace the newly proposed task of both public media in the fight against disinformation by contributing to media literacy, while the opposition ANO and SPD want to eliminate the fight against disinformation without a replacement. Several amendments proposed by the coalition and the opposition relate to the way of concluding memoranda between the state and public television and radio on the way of fulfilling the public service.
Baxa wants to use the amendment to cancel the mandatory registration of, for example, YouTubers and influencers with the Radio and Television Broadcasting Council. Although the Council should keep a list of them with regard to the European directive, according to the rationale, it would make the entries mainly on the basis of its own knowledge of the media market. Another of its modifications would enable financial remuneration of the members of the board of the State Culture Fund.
Both CT and CRo threaten to cancel programs for children without increasing fees. Blackmail, sounds from the opposition
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