7 years ago today: A rumor is spreading

How many public service radio stations are there in the country? Be careful, one channel can hide another.

A poorly-run interview on the socio-cultural channel „100komma7“ with the then president of the parliamentary media commission, Simone Beissel, starts a controversial discussion about the government’s plans.

„According to Simone Beissel, RTL-Radio should be given a new statute. The Bertelsmann group has demanded this,“ it says on the „100komma7“ website. The state is prepared to let money flow. Simone Beissel does not seem to have been very well informed at the time, but did she just reveal something that should have remained secret?

The debate has certainly been launched, with the first press articles analysing the prospect of a second public radio station in the country. The State Ministry is almost frantically trying to stifle this discussion. In a response to a parliamentary question it is clear: „the Government has no intention of promoting the creation of a second public radio station“. The negotiations would only, solely and exclusively, concern RTL TV, which would be strictly separated from radio - so Bettel said shortly afterwards in the parliamentary committee and later in parliament. It is RTL itself that, in its reporting on the debate, brings Xavier Bettel’s statements to the point: „They would have talked about the future of Radio Luxembourg, and various things would have been changed in the convention, but it is clear that only TV Luxembourg will be financed, reiterates the Prime Minister, for whom the difference between TV and radio is now clearer“.

If one looks back on the debate of that time today, one is surprised to find that it basically turned out as similar as Simone Beissel’s statements had suggested. Today, on the same day, but on January 4th, just 2 years ago, the Ministry of Media presented a new law to the parliamentary media committee – as part of debates on a new concession agreement, in which RTL Radio, on an equal footing with TV, was granted state money for a „public service“: „The Government is authorized to participate in the financing of the public service mission in television, radio and digital activities entrusted to CLT-UFA and RTL Group for the years 2024 to 2030 inclusive.“ This also enshrines in law what was probably already stipulated in secret agreements: Of course, the state also pays for the work of RTL Radio Luxembourg.

The country finally got its second state-funded radio station. But one that also simultaneously generates advertising revenues for Bertelsmann.