The cancellation of monthly broadcasting fees that people have to pay to watch state-owned Slovak Television (STV) and listen to Slovak Radio (SRo) would support the independence of these public institutions, SDKÚ-DS vice-chair Ivan Mikloš said at a press conference in Bratislava on October 23.
Mikloš said it would be more effective to finance the two broadcasters directly from state-budget resources. Opposition MPs have proposed an amendment discussed in parliament on October 23 that states that STV should receive 0.6 percent of the budget and the SRo 0.3 percent.
This would increase STV's income by more than Sk500 million (€16.6 million) and SRo's income by Sk400 million (€13.3 million). The two institutions would then operate only within their given budgets and wouldn't be dependent on state donations. Dušan Jarjabek from Smer-SD said that the opposition's proposal was unrealistic, and that both STV and the SRo would be subjected to more state supervision if the proposal were approved. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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