Thousands of people gathered in Prague’s Old Town Square on Sunday to demonstrate against government plans to overhaul funding for the Czech Republic’s public television and radio. Protesters chanted "We’ve had enough" and called out "4:36"—the early morning hour when lawmakers approved fast-tracking the draft legislation—warning that replacing independent licence fees with direct state funding would threaten journalistic independence.
Under the proposed reform, the government would abolish household licence fees that traditionally finance public broadcasting, replacing them with allocations directly from the state budget. Critics and opposition politicians caution that the plan could cut public broadcaster budgets by roughly 15 percent as early as next year. They argue the shift would grant politicians direct financial leverage over editorial decisions, drawing comparisons to media crackdowns under populist leaders in Hungary and Slovakia.
The bill was introduced by the governing coalition led by billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, which includes two far-right parties. Lawmakers pushed the measure through the lower house of parliament during a rare overnight session that restricted debate from the opposition. Babiš has defended the reform, insisting that the changes are designed to improve financial transparency rather than undermine media independence.
The legislation must still clear the parliament's upper house before it can become law, and the opposition has pledged to challenge it in the constitutional court. Meanwhile, public media employees announced plans to launch a strike on November 3, receiving backing from labour unions, universities, and international media watchdogs. Demonstrators have also called for another mass rally in Prague on November 15.