Germany’s 16 states agreed on Thursday to introduce from January 1 a licence fee of 5.52 euros (3.70 pounds) a month on computers and mobile phones that can access television and radio programmes via the Internet.
Any household or company that does not already have a licence will have to pay the new levy, which is the same as the one currently charged for radio access, state premiers agreed at a meeting in the town of Bad Pyrmont.
German households pay just over 17 euros a month to watch TV, but since more radio programmes are available over the Internet than TV, state broadcaster ARD wanted the fee for computers and phones to match that of radios. . . .
Germany’s TV licence fee is among the highest in Europe, with only Switzerland and the Nordic countries paying more. It funds four national public broadcasters, several local broadcasters and all the country’s public radio stations.
This is nothing new in Europe, but the idea of a television or cell phone license seems foreign to my American sensibilities (though we do have public broadcasting and our tax policy makers here in the U.S. are trying to figure out a way they can tax virtual assets in online games).
I’ve never understood the need for tax-funded public broadcasting. I cannot fathom a need for it, especially not in the internet age where anyone (with a small budget and a little know-how) can create text, video or audio content and broadcast it to a potential global audience of millions. If I were a German, I’d be looking for my government to cut back on funding for public media given the reality of the internet. I certainly wouldn’t be looking for them to levy a tax on access to the internet which makes it harder for individual entrepreneurs to utilize the medium.