Bosnia's main public broadcaster BHRT has been left without the main source of funding, it was confirmed on Tuesday.

As previously announced, the state-owned electric utility company Elektroprivreda BiH has not included RTV tax on its January bills, which refer to the use of electricity in the period starting from December 6, 2023.

“Elektroprivreda did not respond to our inquiries about this. RTRS has not paid money from tax collection since 2017, and now the Public Broadcasting Service has been deprived of funds from the Federation of BiH,” the BHRT said in a brief statement.

Bosnia's state-level public broadcaster warns authorities about its imminent financial collapse

The Board of Directors of Bosnia and Herzegovina's public broadcaster BHRT sent on December 26 a letter to the local authorities and international organisations regarding the difficult financial situation it was 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.

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.

Based on the RTV tax collection and distribution regulations, the debt of RTRS 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, according to BHRT.