Austrian households are to pay an ORF license fee in 2024

As announced by the Media Minister Susanne Raab on April 27th, the ORF, will obtain EUR 710M per annum from mandatory household contributions from 2024. The ORF is a publicly-funded broadcaster and is set to become Austria's largest media group, amidst the upcoming regulation. The newly presented fee will replace the so-called "GIS fee" which was obligatory for homes with a TV and/or a radio.

The ORF amounts to EUR 15.3, excluding province-level taxes. That said, the prices in each state will vary, although they will be lower than the GIS fee mentioned above. In Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg, regional governments have decided to waive the tax completely, whilst Salzburg is considering this possibility as well.

There will also be some changes made to the journalism production of the ORF. For instance, current reports on politics, sports and culture will be accessible online for 30 days. At the same time, history, sports and children's programmes will be available for an unlimited amount of time on the ORF TvThek. Currently, there is a 7-day limitation on online access to audio and video materials.

On top of that, the ORF will have permission to produce content exclusively for online platforms and ORF.at will have a 70/30 ratio of video and text content. As revealed by Der Standard, the number of reports will be lowered to 350 per week.