Finnish media fee just what the state broadcaster needs

The Finnish government decided on Thursday to introduce a media fee for all households to replace the television fee currently in effect. The exact amount of the fee is to be determined in autumn 2011. The daily Karjalaine writes: "By its very stringency, this fee - which will be the same for all households - resembles a tax increase. ... In a survey carried out in August by the Finnish marketing research company Taloustutkimu, 62 percent of Finns rejected the fee, considering the planned rate of 175 euros too high. Yet this media fee is just what [Finnish state television and radio broadcaster] YLE needs. It will guarantee and bolster its financing in a time when media use is undergoing profound changes, and when young people are switching en masse from TV viewing to the unlimited content offered by the Internet. Having fee payment remain dependent on television or radio ownership would ultimately have plunged YLE into a financial crisis."

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