France to scrap TV licence fee after Senate approval
After its successful passage through parliament's lower house, France's Senate has in turn approved legislation to scrap the country's 138-euro TV licence fee, which public broadcasters have warned will weaken their independence.
FranceFrance is to scrap its television licence fee after the Senate approved Emmanuel Macron’s election promise to cut the public broadcasting tax in order to boost households’ spending power, reports The Guardian.
But during a heated Senate debate that ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning, opponents on the left raised what they called important concerns over the future funding and independence of public television and radio, warning that public broadcasting risked being weakened.
Some on the right were also critical, calling for a proper discussion on a wider overhaul of public broadcasting, saying the quality of debate in the Senate had been “lousy”.
When Macron ran for a second term as president this spring, he argued that scrapping the broadcasting licence fee made sense because he wanted to continue lowering taxes. The far-right’s Marine Le Pen, who was beaten by Macron in the final vote, wanted to go further, not just scrapping the licence fee but privatising public television and radio in mainland France.
The French licence fee is 138 euros (£115) a year in mainland France and applies to about 27 million homes who declare a television set.
