Funding of Public Service Media and Its Connection with the Operating of Such Media

Abstract

Public service media have reached the point where they need to prove their usefulness and sometimes even justify their existence in commercial-driven markets. One of the main topics for public discourse is how they should be funded, who exactly should pay for them, and consequently, how much people should pay for them. This study offers a comparison of funding models in three different European countries, namely Finland, the Czech Republic, and Serbia and their providers of public service broadcasting-Ylesradio Oy (Finland), Czech Television (the Czech Republic) and Radio Television of Serbia (Serbia). As this paper is mainly concerned about funding, conducted research considers quantitative factors. These countries and providers are compared using several metrics, e.g., viewership, wages, or tax and GDP ratio. Research concluded that, despite they are without any doubts underfunded, public service media in the Czech Republic and Serbia do not necessarily need to increase fee but they need to raise money from the citizens more effectively.