Czech Radio Plans a Balanced Budget in 2025

"Czech Radio has always ensured that its management is responsible and transparent. In the coming year we want to offer our listeners a quality public service and provide them with information, entertainment and education. The year 2025 is the last year in which Czech Radio is able to finance the full range of its services at the current fee of CZK 45 per month. However, we still believe that the so-called big media amendment will be approved and thanks to it the funding of Czech Radio will be stabilized for the next few years," said René Zavoral, Director General of Czech Radio.

The budget for 2025 includes the staffing plan, i.e. the number of employees and their pro-rated salary amount, as well as the approved requirements for the fulfilment of the broadcasting scheme of individual stations of Czech Radio, the planned number of registered radio receivers, including the calculation of income from the radio fee, the creation and settlement of provisions and the write-off of receivables. Furthermore, the budget includes the forecast of revenues from business activities and other operating and financial revenues, the calculation of overhead costs necessary to ensure the operation of Czech Radio, as well as a simulation of depreciation of fixed assets, which reflects both the condition of existing assets and the planned investment activity in 2025.

The approved budget for next year will fully ensure the broadcasting of all 25 stations of Czech Radio:

• 4 nationwide stations (Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava, Plus)
• 6 special stations (Radio Junior, Jazz, D-major, Radio Wave, Radiožurnál Sport, Pohoda)
• 14 regional stations
• 1 international station (Radio Prague International), broadcasting in six languages

The draft budget for 2025 is based on the current version of Act No. 348/2005 Coll. on Radio and Television Fees and therefore works with a nominal value of the fee of CZK 45 per month.

The budget was drawn up on the basis of the budget requests sent by the individual divisions of Czech Radio, which were analyzed in detail during the negotiation process and in many cases significantly reduced or optimized to match the financial resources of Czech Radio.

During 2025, Czech Radio plans to cover possible unexpected events and the resulting extra costs from savings generated during the year, or by restrictive measures in the programming and service divisions and reallocation of planned financial resources.

Should a situation arise during 2025 that would significantly affect the execution of planned costs and the achievement of expected revenues (i.e. in particular the expected adoption of the amendment to the Act on Radio and Television Fees), or should any other extraordinary events and significant financial events occur, a Draft Budget Update for 2025 would be prepared and submitted on the basis of these events.

Cost and revenue budget for 2025

Compared to the budget for 2024, the projected costs and revenues decrease by CZK 34 million.

The year-on-year decrease in revenue is related to a reduction in the planned volume for most revenue headings (commercial revenue, financial revenue, revenue from the sale of services, other operating revenue and drawdown of earmarked funds). These decreases are only slightly offset by an increase in the planned value for the main source of Czech Radio's funding, which is revenue from radio fees. The year-on-year increase is due to the planned high success rate of the acquisition activity, i.e. the search for new payers, despite the unfavorable demographic development and the continuous cleaning of the payer database. In particular, in view of the number of planned acquisition actions and their expected success, an increase of approx. CZK 4 million.

Due to the year-on-year decrease in funding sources (operating and financial revenues) by CZK 34 million, the development and extraordinary activities had to be reduced on the cost side of the budget, as well as some non-budgetary expenses. The budget for 2025 does not foresee any indexation of staff salaries or adjustment of the fee scales. Nevertheless, the budget ensures full coverage of the production and broadcasting costs of all 25 Czech Radio stations, as well as routine maintenance of all Czech Radio properties, which has become increasingly costly in recent years due to the high inflation rate.