> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.czechish.cz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # From Netflix to English-language news: Why Czech public media matters even if you don't own a television - URL: https://www.czechish.cz/what-does-netflix-have-to-do-with-czech-tvs-funding-feud-more-than-you-think/ - Published: 2026-11-09T17:45:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-14T17:52:40.000Z - Description: From Netflix and license fees to political influence and who actually watches Czech TV, we put five common assumptions about public broadcasting to the test - Author: Elizabeth Zahradnicek Haas - Tags: Opinions The battle over Czech Television's funding has spilled out of Parliament and onto the streets. What began as a political debate in June has escalated into strikes, demonstrations drawing thousands, and another major protest planned for Prague's Letná Plain on November 15\. In my house, Czech TV means Christmas *pohádky* playing on a loop during holiday meals with my Czech in-laws. The sheer torture of sitting through yet another episode of StarDance with my teenagers. And the starry nostalgia of Večerníček and the 8 p.m. bedtime sheep. As a journalist, though, I also turn to Czech Television and Czech Radio to find out what's happening in the country. And I'm hardly alone: according to the [Reuters Institute's 2026 Digital News Report](https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2026/czech-republic?ref=czechish.cz), 59 percent of Czech respondents trust Czech TV News and 58 percent trust Czech Radio News, making them the country's most trusted news brands among those surveyed. Still, why should you care about Czech Television's future if you're not a journalist, don't speak Czech, and don't even own a TV? The feud over public broadcasting funding is often framed as a choice between keeping the license fee or scrapping it. But the debate can't be neatly divided into two sides. It's a more complex conversation about how public media is funded, what that money pays for, and the role taxpayers play in it all. Before you pick up a protest sign — or take the rage bait on Facebook — here are five assumptions about Czech TV's funding fight worth questioning. ## 1\. You don't watch Czech TV, so why should you pay for it? You may be watching it anyway. This is probably one of the most common arguments for abolishing television license fees. And on the face of it, it's reasonable enough. Why pay for something you don't use? This argument also assumes that watching Czech Television means switching on Czech Television. And that paying for it is only about what you personally watch. Under the [current system](https://poplatky.ceskatelevize.cz/en?ref=czechish.cz), households pay CZK 150 a month for Czech Television and another CZK 55 for Czech Radio. That's CZK 2,460 a year combined. The television fee applies to households with devices capable of receiving broadcasts, including smartphones, tablets, and computers. You pay once per household, not per device, and whether you actually watch Czech Television makes no difference. In Czech Television's case, the money pays for news and investigations, documentaries, children's programming, films, entertainment, sport, and cultural coverage. It also supports the preservation of broadcasting archives as well as film production. Which means even if you never switch on ČT, you may well be watching something it helped produce. One exception worth knowing: foreign nationals without permanent or long-term residence permits are [exempt from the TV fee](https://poplatky.ceskatelevize.cz/en/fee-exemption?ref=czechish.cz). Remember that the next time you're scrolling through Netflix: the streaming giant recently licensed [21 classic Czech Television series.](https://www.mediaguru.cz/netflix-zatim-vlastni-tvorbu-v-cesku-nechysta-chce-ale-dal-nakupovat-ceske-filmy-a-serialy?ref=czechish.cz) Meanwhile, Gerta Schnirch, a Czech Television co-production, premiered on HBO Max months before it aired on ČT itself. The principle isn't different from the other services we support collectively every day. Public libraries, fire brigades and public parks, for starters. We don't expect a refund because we haven't borrowed a book, called the fire department, or sat on a park bench lately. ## 2\. Abolishing license fees means free TV. Not exactly. Under the current system, the license fees you pay go directly to Czech Television and Czech Radio rather than passing through the state budget. But abolishing them doesn't mean the public stops paying. It could simply mean paying through taxes instead, as people already do in several European countries. And this is where you practically need an economics degree to figure out how it all works. Fortunately, researchers at Charles University, Masaryk University, and Palacký University have done some of the homework. In April 2026, they published a [study comparing 13 European public broadcasting funding systems](https://science.fsv.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Jak-financovat-media-verejne-sluzby.pdf?ref=czechish.cz), looking at everything from fairness and administrative costs to financial stability and political independence. Czechia and the UK levy fees on households with devices capable of receiving broadcasts. Germany levies a fee on every household, whether there's a TV in it or not. Finland collects a dedicated public-media tax, while Norway and Denmark pay for their public broadcasters through state budgets. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has repeatedly pointed to Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, as evidence that abolishing license fees needn't threaten public broadcasting. Sweden, however, uses a dedicated public-media tax, quite different from the state-budget funding proposed in Czechia. Still, how the money is collected is only part of the story. But he's sidestepping the question at the heart of every debate, petition and protest sign: it's not simply about abolishing fees, but who decides how much broadcasters receive. ## 3\. If the government pays, the government calls the shots. Sort of. The Babiš government's proposal would replace license fees with contributions from the state budget. The PM insists that funding would be guaranteed by law and that politicians couldn't simply cut the budget because they disliked the coverage. On November 5, Babiš floated changes to the bill, including funding broadcasters through a fixed share of tax revenues rather than direct payments from the state budget. But the legislation before parliament still provides for state-budget funding. This is where the study findings become particularly relevant. Researchers found that funding public broadcasters through state budgets can make them more vulnerable to political pressure, citing the experiences of countries including Hungary and Slovakia. These concerns aren't coming solely from the political opposition. The European Broadcasting Union, an alliance representing public-service broadcasters including Czech Television and Czech Radio, joined Reporters Without Borders and other international media organizations in warning about the proposed changes. In their [joint statement](https://www.ebu.ch/news/2026/10/concern-over-fast-tracked-debate-on-czech-public-service-media-funding?ref=czechish.cz), the organizations estimated that the bill would reduce the broadcasters' combined funding by approximately CZK 1.4 billion a year, or 15 percent. ## 4\. Nobody watches TV anymore anyway. Tell that to Gen Z. One of the arguments politicians in the governing coalition keep returning to is that nobody watches television anymore. Czech Television's own audience figures show that 8.95 million people watched ČT at least once in 2025. And even young people are tuning in: according to [Czech Television's figures reported by Hospodářské noviny](https://domaci.hn.cz/c1-67955370-mladi-televizi-nesleduji-a-lide-jsou-kvuli-poplatkum-v-exekucich-tvrdi-vlada-jaka-je-realita?ref=czechish.cz), 1.14 million people aged 12–24 watched ČT at least once during the year, or 87 percent of that age group. And remember those Christmas *pohádky*? One fairy tale alone, The Mystery of the Haunted Castle, attracted 290,000 viewers in that age group. Apparently, even Gen Z isn't immune to a Czech Christmas tradition. And who gets their news from television anymore? The above-mentioned Reuters Report on Czechia confirms that online news remains dominant, although television and social-media news consumption have stabilized. Maybe you don't celebrate Christmas, don't care if the next *pohádka* gets cut or loses its budget, and don't see Czech Television offering much to people who aren't Czech or get their news primarily online. Given the size of Czechia's foreign population, and the fact that public broadcasters in countries such as Germany and Finland offer news and programming in English, there's plenty of room to improve how Czech public broadcasters serve people who don't speak Czech. But here's a question worth asking: Where does the content you're scrolling through online, even in English, come from in the first place? ## 5\. The funding fight won't affect English-language news. Don't be so sure. Recent decisions about public media funding have already shown how quickly a change in government priorities can affect how news is produced, distributed and made available to audiences who don't speak Czech. [Radio Prague International](https://english.radio.cz/?ref=czechish.cz) reports in English and several other languages and offers podcasts, including Czechast, which explores everything from Czech politics to culture and history. It receives funding through the Foreign Ministry, where Petr Macinka cut its budget by 25 percent in 2026\. He argued that international broadcasting was outdated in the digital age and no longer a ministry priority. Eight positions were lost, and [coverage in several languages](https://informace.rozhlas.cz/cesky-rozhlas-musi-omezit-sve-sluzby-v-ramci-zahranicniho-vysilani-9606768?ref=czechish.cz) was reduced. Czech Television's Brno newsroom produces #RoundUpCTV, a weekly English-language news roundup. Czech Radio Plus broadcasts News in English, a five-minute bulletin aimed specifically at foreign residents. Then there's the Czech News Agency (ČTK), whose wire service supplies reporting to news outlets across the country, including those reporting in the English language. It doesn't collect license fees or rely on state subsidies, but finances itself by syndicating its news. Yet during coalition talks,[ SPD floated merging ČTK with Czech Television and Czech Radio into one state-funded institution](https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/babis-zadne-ohrozeni-demokracie-financovani-ct-a-cro-bude-jako-mandatorni-vydaj%5F2610241527%5Fjho?ref=czechish.cz), arguing it would save money. The idea went nowhere, but Czech Television, Czech Radio and the news agency supplying reporting to much of the country's media (including those reporting in English) would all have been brought under one state-funded institution. In a country where the independence of the press was hard-won after 1989, it's a pretty striking proposal to find on the coalition negotiating table. When I was editing daily English-language news about Czechia, Czech Television was one of the sources I relied on to understand which stories mattered and why. The reporting didn't stop being useful because my readers weren't watching ČT24. You don't have to be Czech, vote in Czech elections, or even own a television to be affected by decisions about the future of public media. Those decisions can shape not only the news you read, but also whether reporting and programming for people who don't speak Czech remain a priority. And the impact may reach you through an entirely different screen.