PRAGUE, June 21 (Reuters) - Thousands marched in Prague on Sunday to protest against the Czech government's planned overhaul of a decades-old financing system for public media, which critics say cuts funding and opens the way for political interference.
The protest came a day before workers at public broadcasters Czech Television and Czech Radio plan to strike in protest at the financing changes, affecting programming but leaving the stations on air.
The government, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis' populist ANO party and including right-wing and far-right parties, agreed last week to end licence fees that are the main source of funding for public television and radio stations.
It says most of the public do not want to pay the fees charged to households and businesses, saying it will instead finance the public broadcasters from the state budget. Critics say this would be an attack on their independence.
CHANGES MEAN 15% CUT IN FUNDING
"Media does not belong to politics," Mikulas Minar, of the Million Moments (Milion Chvilek) group that organised the protest, told the crowd at the start of the march.
The protest route was shortened due to the heatwave hitting Prague and areas across Europe. CTK news agency estimated thousands took part, marching through neighbourhoods on the way to the Czech Television building and carrying banners saying "Hands off public media".
The government's changes will return funding to levels seen in 2008 to 2024, before a rare fee increase initiated by the last government took place in 2025. That would mean a 15% cut in financing.
Czech Television's chief said this week that could mean forced layoffs of about 300 to 500 of the station's 2,900 staff.
The government has often lashed out at both public and private independent media that ruling parties see as biased, but it says it is not threatening the independence of Czech Television and Czech Radio with the changes.
(Reporting by Eva Korinkova and Jason Hovet; Editing by David Holmes)
