The RTV subscription is gone. The government has a plan, but the president will decide by PLN 108 per year

After nearly 2 decades of promises, Donald Tusk for the second time faces a chance to liquidate a RTV subscription, who himself calls “archaic hare.” This time, however, the government has concrete plans on the table that can change the way public media is financed in Poland. Will we have a new, automatic charge of PLN 108 per year, or possibly the full backing from the state budget? The final decision lies in the hands of president Karol Nawrocki, who has the right to veto. Moreover, regardless of the result of the reform, The subscription will already increase from 2026, hitting millions of Poles in their pockets.

It's a historical moment. In 2008, as a freshly baked Prime Minister, Tusk announced the end of the “harasser drawn from people”. But the promise remained incomplete. Today, after 17 years, the situation is different. The government, according to Rp.pl portal, is considering 2 main scenarios that are to solve erstwhile and for all the problem of low recovery and archaicity of the current system.

End of the “archive racket”? The government has 2 concrete plans.

Many Poles have long regarded RTV as a relic of the past, which is avoided on a massive scale. Charge collection has been decreasing for years and execution costs are increasing, making the strategy ineffective and unjust. In 2013, the Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski spoke about the request to replace it with an audiovisual fee. Now, the Donald Tusk government, for the first time in years, has concrete proposals.

First scenario assumes a fresh audiovisual fee of about PLN 108 per year. A key change? Danina would be automatically collected by the taxation Office, at the same time as income taxation on persons aged 26-75. This radically differs from the current subscription, which is 327.60 PLN per year For tv and radio. The fresh strategy is intended to supply almost 100% recovery, eliminating the problem of payment avoidance. However, Bankier.pl warns that for larger families costs may be higher – if there are 4 adults in the household, the yearly fee will be about 432 gold.

Second scenario is the full abolition of all charges on citizens and public media backing straight from the state budget. The amount of the order is spoken of PLN 3-4 billion a year. Supporters of this solution, as Eska.pl says, argue that since public media service everyone, their backing should be transparent and come from general resources. However, opponents fear that specified a solution could increase media dependence on current power, affecting their independence.

It's up to the president. The subscription's gonna go up anyway!

Regardless of which script yet chooses the government, President Karol Nawrocki will play a key role. According to the Constitution, the president has the right to veto any bill. Although he expressed interest in the content of the planned media law, he had not yet taken an authoritative position on subscription reform. This means that the future of public media backing is at stake and depends on political negotiations.

But the most shocking thing is that RTV's current subscription will already increase from 2026! According to Rp.pl portal, the National Broadcasting Council has already decided to raise. The radio charge will increase by more than 9 percent – from 8.70 to 9.50 PLN per month. Much higher increases will be borne by tv holders – from 27.30 to PLN 30.50 per month, which means an increase of about 11 percent. This means that even if the improvement is halted, Poles will pay more for the “harasser” that the government wants to eliminate.

Why is the current RTV subscription a relic of the past?

The current subscription strategy is actually a relic that does not adhere to modern realities. In the era of smartphones, tablets and net television, it is hard to find who actually uses public media in a way that requires a charge. Most Poles watch TVP online or perceive to Polish Radio through applications, and formally do not gotta pay a subscription, which further reduces the collection.

The problem is that the current strategy requires registration of receivers and is based on message calls for payment. As the Infor.pl portal warns, the usage of an unregistered receiver is punishable by a punishment of 30 times the monthly subscription fee – it could even be PLN 819. In practice, however, controls are uncommon and enforcement costly and ineffective. This makes the strategy not only obsolete, but besides generates immense administrative costs that outweigh the effects.

The future of public media backing in Poland is uncertain, but 1 thing is certain – changes are inevitable. Will Poles say goodbye to the “harass” for a new, automatic fee, or will public media be full financed from the budget? The final decision is in the hands of the president, but we already know that the current subscription will inactive hit us in our pockets since 2026. It is worth following developments, due to the fact that how we will pay for public media applies to each of us.