Bosnia’s State Broadcaster BHRT Stops Airing Amid Funding Crisis

Funding Crisis and Shutdown Impact

BELGRADE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Bosnia’s state broadcaster BHRT shut down its programmes on Thursday in protest at a funding crisis that it said could close the TV and radio service that was meant to unify the country after years of war.

It broadcast a black screen with a short statement reading: "This is not a malfunction. This is a warning about potential shutdown of the BHRT."

Risks for Elections and EU Accession

A final closure would leave Bosnia as Europe’s only country without a national broadcaster at a time when it is preparing for national elections in October and still struggling with post-war ethnic divisions.

Why BHRT Suspended Broadcasting

The broadcaster's bank account was empty, BHRT deputy director Lejla A. Babovic told private N1 TV. "As of tomorrow we will not be able to plan our activities," she said. It needed a loan which it would repay by suing its debtors, she added.

BHRT employs about 700 people and broadcasts news, politics, films and art shows across the country.

Political and Regional Context

Postwar Bosnia’s two autonomous regions - the Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Croats and Bosniaks - run their own broadcasters funded by licence fees added to electricity bills.

Half of those fees should finance BHRT under a system set up after the 1990s war with international support to unify three wartime ethnic broadcasters and curb nationalist rhetoric.

But Serb and Croat nationalist parties have long opposed a single state broadcaster.

RTRS Non‑Payment Since 2017

Unpaid License Fees and Mounting Debt

The Serb Republic’s broadcaster, RTRS, has stopped transferring fees to BHRT since 2017, despite nearly a dozen court rulings, racking up debt of more than 104 million Bosnian marka ($62.96 million).

Many Croats in the Federation also refuse to pay licence fees.

BHRT Liabilities and Arrears

BHRT owes around 100 million Bosnian marka for expenses including services by other media and benefits for employees, its accounts show.

Earlier this month, the head of the European Union delegation to Bosnia, Luigi Soreca, said on X that the collapse of BHRT would represent a major setback for the country's candidacy for joining the bloc.

Public Reaction and Audience Shift

Sarajevo-based journalist Najra Krvavac said its collapse "would be a devastating and final proof of a lack of care for an integral part of the country’s identity".

Streaming vs Traditional TV

Others said the broadcaster's significance was fading as its audience aged and streaming services attracted younger viewers.

Symbolic vs Practical Damage

"If it stops broadcasting, the damage would be mainly symbolic," Omer Hasic, a 56-year-old clerk from Sarajevo, said. "Younger people are not into TV any more, everything is on internet."

Past Protests and Warnings

In November, BHRT went on air from an improvised tent studio in bitter winter cold outside parliament, urging the government to prevent its collapse in what it called a "final warning".

Exchange Rate Reference

($1 = 1.6519 marka)

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Andrew Heavens)