Financing : Germany

The public broadcasting corporations obtain most of their funds in the form of user fees paid by owners of radios and television sets. Both also depend on income from commercial advertising. In contrast to the private companies, they are allotted a limited amount of time for commercial spots. Television rights, especially for the transmission of sporting events such as soccer or tennis, have become very expensive. As a result, all sports broadcasts - and programs in other sectors as well - are meanwhile sponsored by financially strong companies who are in return permitted to display their company logo on the screen at times other than those allotted for advertising.

The public corporations cannot increase user fees to cover broadcasting costs without the approval of the state parliaments. A major overhaul of the procedure for setting fees became necessary as a result of the decision handed down by the Federal Constitutional Court on 22 February 1994 and has meanwhile been implemented through amendment of the broadcasting agreement between the federal states.