Germany’s public broadcasters won a case in constitutional court Tuesday against the 16 state governments, which had attempted to limit the radio and TV corporations’ taxation powers.
The ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio corporations are mainly funded from a tax on television sets and personal computers.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the states had no power to overrule a 2005 hike in the tax. Known as the broadcasting licence fee, it is modelled on a similar tax imposed in Britain by the British Broadcasting Corporation and is collected by a Cologne agency, with investigators checking homes for evaders.
The unpopular tax has been attacked as unfair by commercial broadcasters, who fund their operations from advertising income. Everyone owning a set or a computer with an internet connection must pay the tax, even if they never watch public channels. The court based the ruling on the constitutional right of the media to resist government interference.