Czechia

[CZ] Amendment to the Act on Radio and Television Fees

IRIS 2025-5:1/17

Jan Fučík

Česká televize

Parliament has approved amendments to the Act on Radio and Television Fees, which came into force on 1 may 2025.

The main points of the amendment are the following:

Article 6 states that the monthly amount of the radio fee is CZK 55 and the monthly amount of the television fee is CZK 150.

The same article further sets out that the monthly amount of the radio and television fees shall be increased by 6% from 1 July of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the total amount of inflation accumulated in the years since the last fee increase exceeds 6%. The amount of the radio fee and the television fee are to be rounded up to whole crowns.

A legal entity or natural person who is an entrepreneur shall pay radio and television fees according to the number of employees.

The radio and television fee shall be paid for any device technically capable of individually selectable reproduction of television broadcasts, regardless of the method of reception (hereinafter referred to as a “television receiver”). Such a device shall be considered a television receiver even if the taxpayer adapts it for another purpose. The range of relevant devices now includes not only home radios, TVs and car radios, but virtually any phone, tablet or computer connected to the Internet.

The amendment maintains the principle of one payment per household regardless of how many devices its members possess.

Schools, the deaf, the blind, foreigners without permanent or long-term residence in Czechia and those whose income does not exceed 2.15 times the minimum living wage are exempt from fees. Associations and employers with a majority of workers with disabilities are also exempt from fees.

In addition, Czech Television may not place commercial communications on its website, with the exception of advertising aimed exclusively at promoting its own broadcasts and programmes and commercial communications for its own on-demand audiovisual media services.

Article 53 states that: “The time reserved for the announcement of sponsorship of programmes and shows during the broadcasting of a television broadcaster may not exceed 50 hours on the ČT 1 channel and 260 hours in total on all channels, per calendar year."