Survey: Finns do not regard proposed YLE media fee as justified

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According to a recent survey conducted by the Finnish market research company Taloustutkimus and published by the Finnish Newspaper Association on Tuesday, a total of 62 per cent of Finns do not regard a proposed media fee as justified.
      Only around one-third of all respondents said that they are in favour of a universal media fee that would replace the current television licence, as proposed by a working group chaired by MP Mika Lintilä (Centre).
      At a press conference on Tuesday, Kristiina Markkula, the director of the Finnish Newspaper Association, expressed her satisfaction with the results of the survey.
      According to the study, the Finns strongly agree with the Finnish Newspaper Association regarding certain controversial issues relating to the financing and supervision of the operations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE).
     
The basis for the debate is the proposal made by Lintilä’s working group, which is currently being prepared by civil servants, and which has met with fierce opposition from the newspaper branch.
      The working group proposes that all Finnish households should pay a media fee of EUR 175 regardless of whether they have a television or not.
      The working group also suggests that the company should even in the future be supervised by an Administrative Council appointed by Parliament.
      The respondents to the survey disagree on both counts. Only 15 per cent of all respondents would leave the supervision of YLE in the hands of an Administrative Council.
      Instead, three in four interviewees are in favour of a new supervisory body involving certain experts from the media sector, which is the same idea as supported by the Finnish Newspaper Association.
     
When questioned about other funding alternatives, one-quarter of the respondents said that the funding for YLE should come from the state budget.
      However, the respondents were not separately informed of the estimated amount of budgetary money needed, namely EUR 400 million.
      Some 21 per cent of the respondents said that YLE should continue to cover its funding by the current annual licence fee of EUR 224 levied only on television owners.
     
Lintilä’s model was the third most popular alternative.
      The respondents were also asked to estimate what kind of services YLE should provide.
      As for entertainment, most respondents said that they would like YLE to show anything but foreign entertainment programmes, reality-TV shows, and foreign soaps.
      As for sports, the majority feels that YLE should show all important sports events except for rally and formula races and foreign ball sports, including ice hockey from the NHL.
     
In an interview with YLE evening TV news on Tuesday, Mika Lintilä and YLE CEO Mikael Jungner claimed that the survey was biased.
      ”If they had asked whether or not it is good that the fee drops from EUR 224 to EUR 175, I think the readings would have been crushing”, Lintilä declared.
      The poll involved telephone interviews with 1,002 Finns between the ages of 15 and 79. Taloustutkimus conducted the interviews during last week. The margin of error was 3.2 percentage points.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  “Media fee” to replace TV licence (24.4.2009)

Links:
  This is YLE

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