Many people are reluctant to pay the license fee. A new number makes it clear how high the arrears at ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio are: together with late payment penalties, a total of 903 million euros were missing from the coffers in 2020. The trend has also continued in 2021.
Broadcast contribution: Residues cause a huge hole
Almost every household in Germany currently has to pay 18.36 euros per month as a “GEZ fee”. In practice, however, a completely different picture emerges. Quite a few households refuse to transfer the broadcasting fee to ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio on time. According to official information from the nine state broadcasters, in 2020 alone 903 million euros in arrears including late payment penalties (source: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung via press portal).
To speak of a trend reversal in the following year would hardly do justice to the situation. From January to September 2021, the contribution service is said to be missing 596 million in the coffers. According to the community facility, “in the vast majority of cases financial reasons cause of a payment arrears“. In addition, “organizational reasons”, among other things, would contribute to the fact that payment is either not made at all or not paid on time. In addition, there is a lack of language skills and problems with understanding.
The proportion of fee payers who do not transfer the broadcasting fee as requested is seven percent. This corresponds “rather exactly to the number of over-indebted households in Germany”.
This is what the GIGA editorial team thinks of the broadcast fee:
Contribution service: refusal attitude not recognizable
According to a spokesman for the contribution service, a refusal attitude cannot be assumed. The focus on residues have a total of only one “relatively low significance”. This is another reason why the figures are not given in the annual report. The fact that the amount of the arrears has now been made public goes back to a request from the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag.