The Board of Directors of Bosnia and Herzegovina's public broadcaster BHRT sent a letter to the local authorities and international organisations regarding the difficult financial situation it is about to face due to the lack of a contract on the collection of RTV tax on the territory of the Federation BiH, one of two Bosnia's semi-autonomous entities.

The letter stressed that even the current income from the RTV fee is also uncertain, and that with such income, BHRT is accumulating losses and is unable to finance its programme duties.

The BHRT's contract with Elektroprivreda BiH, the state-owned electric utility company, on the collection of RTV tax on their bills, expires on the last day of this year, and BHRT's management requests that the new contract treats the issue of the distribution of revenues based on the Law on the Public Broadcasting System in BiH.

The letter pointed out that such agreement still does not exist but that according to that model, BHRT should get 75 percent of the RTV tax collected in the Federation entity.

The debt of RTRS, a public broadcaster in other entity Republika Srpska, to BHRT exceeds 75 million marks (approx 37.5 million euro), while the Radio-television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina owes BHRT some 15 million marks (approx 7.5 million euro) for the services provided.

In addition to one top public broadcaster, BHRT, Bosnia has other two, as stipulated by the Law on the Public Broadcasting Service, operating in its two semi-autonomous entities – the RTRS in the Serb-dominated part Republika Srpska and the Radio Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RTVFBiH), in the Bosniak-Croat dominated entity.

“RTRS completely ignores the legal obligation to distribute revenue from the collected RTV tax, and since mid-2017 it has not paid a single mark to BHRT's account. The RTV tax in the Federation of BiH is charged only in the area where the Elektroptivreda BiH charges the delivery of electric power,” said the BHRT Board of Directors, adding that BHRT – which is the state-level broadcaster – has no influence on revenue collection, as this is the responsibility of entity services.

They also warned about the problem with staff, noting that two thirds of the employees, who are technical staff and videographers, are paid less than 800 marks (approx 400 euro) per month, while journalists earn slightly above the average in the Federation entity, which leads to an outflow of staff.

The Board of Directors and Management of BHRT called on the local authorities and the international community to permanently resolve the financing of public broadcasting services in accordance with EU recommendations since, as they say, there is a risk that BiH will be left without a public service that covers the entire country.

(1 euro = 1.95 Bosnian marks)