Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state broadcaster BHRT temporarily suspended its regular programming Thursday due to a severe financial crisis, warning that it could face a complete shutdown if its bank accounts are blocked over unpaid debts.
BHRT said it would air only scheduled news bulletins during the day after halting other programming, according to a statement published on its website.
The move comes two days before a deadline set by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for BHRT to settle outstanding debt of 22 million Bosnian marka ($11.3 million), including interest. Failure to pay could result in the blocking of the broadcaster’s accounts.
“The signal you are currently watching is unfortunately not symbolism, but reality. In the days ahead, a permanent interruption of programme broadcasting could occur,” BHRT said.
The broadcaster said the crisis was the result of years of non-compliance with Bosnia’s laws governing the public broadcasting system and the distribution of licence fee revenue.
BHRT has launched several legal proceedings, including lawsuits against Radio-Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS), over unpaid portions of the public broadcasting fee. It said the total debt owed by RTRS under the law on the public RTV system amounted to 104.1 million marka (53.4 million euros) by the end of last year. Court proceedings are ongoing and not yet final.
BHRT said it has no control over the collection and distribution of the broadcasting fee, its primary source of income, and that repeated appeals to Bosnia’s Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Ministers and international institutions have failed to produce a systemic funding solution.
The broadcaster urged Bosnia’s Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) to act urgently to ensure its continued operation.
A shutdown of BHRT would leave Bosnia without a state-level public broadcaster months before general elections scheduled for October, amid persistent ethnic divisions in the country’s political life.
The head of the European Union Delegation to Bosnia, Luigi Soreca, has previously warned that a potential collapse of BHRT would deal a serious blow to the country’s candidacy for EU membership.
BHRT employs around 700 staff and broadcasts news, political programmes, films and cultural content across the country.