Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Public TV Chatter

I noticed this survey report which came out today....via Civey, the survey organization here in Germany.

The question revolved around the public opinion over public TV, the TV-media tax, and where things should go in the future.

So, no shocker....37-percent of the public checked....just wanting ARD/ZDF and the public system to continue.....as is.  20-percent of the public want the total annihilation of ARD, ZDF, and the entire system (including the radio system).  The curious thing on the 20-percent....it's mostly younger adults, who say that there is literally nothing they get out of the system.

The only curious thing that I found in the whole chatter....is that one in three women had zero interest in public TV continuing....with men being closer to 40-percent. 

What will happen here in 2020?  The increase of 80 cents to 1 Euro on the monthly fee will be voted upon and occur, with you seeing the rise in early 2021.  The redistribution of new money toward ZDF and radio, instead of including ARD?  There's talk that this might occur.

But here's the thing....over the next ten years, I expect the anti-public TV crowd to gain more enthusiasm and it's possible as you get to 2030.....more than sixty-percent of the public will demand downsizing or dissolving the 'empire'.

Personally, there three serious issues with the public system that I see, and all of them involve funding:

1.  There is no need for two news bureaus to exist between ARD and ZDF.  One of them should be directed to dissolve their entire bureau.  You could probably save well over 300-million a year on employees and operations.  Simply pick one and move on with dissolving the other.

2.  Bidding on sports events (World Cup, Olympics, etc)?  Stop it.  If commercial German TV wants to bid....let them.  The public TV folks are simply wasting funding as they bid on this.

3.  The various sub-networks?  I can see state networks continuing on, but you could dismantle at least two sub-networks because there's just not enough viewers to keep them going. 

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