Crisis mood for private broadcasters: Media demand more funding!

Crisis mood for private broadcasters: Media demand more funding!

The Association of Austrian private broadcasters (VöP) organized the private broadcaster heurigen in the "Fuggassl-Huber" in Vienna on September 10, 2025. Around 300 guests from the fields of media, politics and business took part in the important event. The precarious economic situation of private broadcasting in Austria was discussed.

VöP President Mario Frühauf emphasized the great importance of the Austrian TV and radio stations for society that has existed for 30 years. He pointed out the stagnant advertising sales and emphasized the growing competition through online platforms, while the costs for organizers are increasing.

Demands on politics

Early, an increase in media funding, especially for private broadcasters, called for politics to create the right framework for the further development of the market. He also emphasized the need for cooperation between the ORF and private media and called for legal guarantees for the findability of Austrian radio content.

The people present also included politicians: inside and Federal Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) and State Secretary Elisabeth Zehetner (ÖVP), as well as representatives: inside of regulatory authorities such as KommaUStria and Rtr. In this context, it is important to mention that media funding in Austria assumes both formal and informal forms that support classic media. This includes, among other things, private broadcasting funding, press promotion, and digital transformation funding, which has existed since 2022 and provides 20 million euros annually for classic media companies.

Media landscape in change

A dual system of radio has been established in Germany since the 1980s, which includes both public and private broadcasters. The first private television station, Sat.1, started in 1984. Private broadcasters have no fixed program order and mainly finance themselves through advertising, while public service broadcasters are legally obliged to ensure the basic supply of the population. These differences between private and public service broadcasting illustrate the challenges that private providers in Austria and Germany look forward to.

The rather economically tense situation and the stagnating selling figures are in contrast to the state measures to support the media industry. Among other things, a total of 20 million euros were provided for quality journalism funding in 2024. For the coming years, further subsidies of a total of 30 million euros for a "mine newspaper subscription" and 25 million euros for sales funding will be planned.

Finally, it became clear at the event that the cooperation between different media players is necessary to create a future -oriented media landscape in Austria. The increasing requirements in the digital age require a common approach to ensure the competitiveness of all media providers.

For more information about the current situation of the media industry and with regard to media funding, interested parties can report on Leadersnet, Bpb and The Media.