On Monday, a special finance committee met on Vienna’s Küniglberg, before which Weißmann presented the plans. He had already warned last autumn of high losses in the millions, also because of the sharp rise in costs. On Monday, Weißmann again explained the financial situation of the ORF, which had never been so difficult. In the 2022-2026 fee period, the compensation is no longer sufficient to stem the rise in prices. In the previous year, that was successful again, in 2022 the ORF was in the black. However, according to Weißmann, one must continue down the path of financing and restructuring.
The ORF has already cut 900 employees since 2007, and savings of EUR 450 million have also been made. In addition, this year’s salary agreement for ORF employees is one of the lowest in the country. From this year until 2026, the media company will have to save another 300 million euros, said Weißmann in the afternoon.
It’s difficult, but there’s no alternative. Where savings are made should be worked out in a process. Some guidelines come from somewhere other than the ORF. However, different measures are necessary, from personnel to material costs.
RSO and Sport +
There was no resolution on Monday, because the board of trustees has to make one. Weißmann said that the program portfolio in TV, radio and online will continue to exist roughly as before, and that the product range will even be expanded. However, offers are now being reviewed that are not covered by the public service mandate and have the addition “according to the economic feasibility” in the ORF law.
These include the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO) and ORF Sport +, the existence of which is now up for debate. The RSO is an essential factor, a really great orchestra, says Weißmann, and every measure will be supported so that it can continue. But it is also clear that it has to be funded. The ORF could not do that “as of today”.
For ORF Sport + other ways are on the table: Here you want to transfer budget funds. Mass sport should be given more importance by shifting to ORF1. Instead, US series are to be reduced, making ORF more Austrian. The Sport + offer is to be continued as a digital offer after the hoped-for implementation of the digital amendment. The same is to be done with the streaming platforms Fidelio and Flimmit: Here, too, one is waiting for the promised amendment. The broadcaster ORF III is not up for grabs, according to Weißmann.
Housekeeping under discussion
Discussions with politicians on financing the ORF are moving in the direction of a budget levy. Because at the end of 2023, the current form of collecting the program fee for the ORF by the GIS will expire according to the ruling of the Constitutional Court (VfGH). Media Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) had repeatedly insisted on a “tough austerity course” for the ORF.
She linked the savings to negotiations with the Greens about a device-independent household fee that is intended to replace the current GIS fee for televisions and radio. Both the ÖVP and the Greens signaled their approval, but the talks still had to be held, it said. Such a household fee would also be “a sustainable solution for financing” for the ORF.
With a switch to a household fee, the inspection visits by GIS employees of the ORF fee subsidiary are no longer necessary. This will probably reduce the financial outlay. The ORF subsidiary will no longer exist in its current size, according to Weißmann. It is conceivable that the household fee will be collected by the same company or that a new company will be founded that relies on GIS experts, said Weißmann. The current state levy levied with the ORF program fee could theoretically continue to be levied by the GIS.
The order is that the ORF should be cheaper for every household. The design is up to the legislature. It can be assumed that all households will pay in the future as a result of a new levy, and this will make it cheaper for the individual.
ORF should be allowed to become more digital
Raab also announced that the digital amendment that ORF had been demanding for years should be implemented as quickly as possible. Specifically, the ORF wants more options in the digital space – such as offering content “online first” and “online only” and also be allowed to make it available for longer than seven days. Weißmann hoped that there could now be sustainable financing and at the same time the digital amendment. The talks had been positive, there was a broad consensus for a future-proof ORF.
Boards of trustees split
“I very much hope that politicians will ensure sustainable funding for the ORF in the coming weeks and modernize the legal framework in such a way that the ORF will reach the younger audience with its public service content in the digital world of tomorrow,” said Foundation Council Chairman Lothar Lockl . The aim is to continue to offer the best public service program for the public in the future.
Thomas Zach, head of the ÖVP “Freundeskreis” in the ORF board of trustees and chairman of the finance committee, said that the ORF was on a “dangerous downward spiral” financially. With a household levy, one could continue to fulfill the public service mandate in the future. It probably wouldn’t have been possible without them, according to Zach, who spoke of an “important milestone”.
Heinz Lederer, head of the SPÖ “Freundeskreis” on the foundation board, said that from his point of view nothing had been fixed yet. The ORF management will not be given “carte blanche” for the austerity measures.
RSO: Möser wants to fight for preservation
The fact that the RSO could be discontinued led to an outcry in the cultural scene on Monday. The hallmark of the RSO is its contemporary repertoire, often combined with the classical canon. The RSO plays subscription cycles in the Musikverein and Konzerthaus. You can also be heard regularly at the Salzburg Festival, Wien Modern and the Musikprotokoll im steirischer herbst. The profile was expanded in 2007, when regular collaboration with the Theater an der Wien began and an identity as an opera orchestra was established. Since 2019, the American Marin Alsop has been the first woman to lead the orchestra. The umbrella unit above the two institutions Radiokulturhaus and RSO is headed by Thomas Wohinz, the artistic responsibility of the RSO is carried by Angelika Möser.
She now wants to fight against a possible termination of the RSO until March 23, the meeting of the foundation board. “I think it would be fundamentally wrong if the orchestra were to be discontinued,” Möser told APA on Monday. “If you in Austria, a land of music, think you can do without the ORF radio symphony orchestra, then that would be a fatal signal for the entire European music landscape.”
Sharp criticism
A number of cultural workers jumped to the side of Möser and the RSO. Criticism of the possible end for the orchestra came from the Vienna Philharmonic, the director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Jan Nast, from Stefan Herheim, the director of the Theater an der Wien, as well as from Stephan Pauly, the director of the Wiener Musikverein, and from Ulrike Sych, the Rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Matthias Naske, director of the Wiener Konzerthaus, found clear words to the APA: “The closure of the RSO Vienna would be a barbaric act.” In a statement, the IG Freie Kulturarbeit referred to the special role of the RSO in the employment of women, if you were here but with over 40 percent female musicians. Vienna’s City Councilor for Culture, Veronica Kaup-Hasler (SPÖ), also said that the radio symphony orchestra is “a mainstay of Austrian and Viennese musical life and must continue to exist as such. The RSO is an integral part of the music city of Vienna.”
positions of the opposition
For the SPÖ, it is crucial that every new financing model ensures the independence of the ORF is secure and socially acceptable, commented SPÖ media spokesman Jörg Leichtfried on the reports.
NEOS media spokeswoman Henrike Brandstötter called for reform steps at the ORF that went beyond a possible household levy and savings plans. The FPÖ criticized the rumored household levy: Everyone would pay a “compulsory fee” with it, even if there was no radio, TV or Internet in the household.
