On Tuesday, the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey (SPD), also joined the phalanx of state politicians who are demanding that the broadcasting fee not be increased in 2025.

The reform of public service broadcasting must also have the aim of "stabilizing broadcasting contributions" and keeping them at the "current level" beyond 2025, said Giffey.

The Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke (SPD), had said the day before in an interview with the "Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung": "There will not and cannot be an increase in the broadcasting fee in 2024/2025." the contributor put into things that were not necessary".

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) had already brought a freeze on broadcasting into play.

The current contribution period runs until the end of 2024, but the registration phase, in which the broadcasters deposit their "financial requirements" with the KEF fee commission, has already begun.

The federal states determine the amount of the license fee, but they must strictly adhere to the recommendations of the KEF.

The broadcasting fee is currently EUR 18.36 per month.

The revenue from the broadcasting contribution amounted to 8.42 billion euros in 2021.

Debate about the state radio station in Potsdam

At the same time, Franziska Giffey spoke out in favor of a broadcaster for the capital region.

Her goal is that Berlin and Brandenburg both make a contribution to developing RBB into a modern and transparent broadcaster.

In the newspaper interview, when asked whether he ruled out a merger between RBB and other ARD broadcasters, Woidke said: "At the moment I'm not ruling anything out.

I think it is possible that public broadcasting will have a different structure in the future.” Closer cooperation with other broadcasters such as Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) or Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) is also conceivable.

With his proposal to create a state broadcasting center for Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting in Potsdam, Woidke met with broad rejection in the Brandenburg state parliament.

"We don't need a state radio station, but an expansion of the regional studios," said Left Party leader Sebastian Walter on Tuesday.

The state parliament member Matthias Stefke from the Free Voters argued the same way.

"We don't need a new headquarters, but an expansion of regional reporting," he said.

Deputy Dennis Hohloch from the opposition AfD parliamentary group also spoke out against a state radio station in Potsdam.

This would only consume more resources, he said.

"A stronger regionalization of the RBB is necessary," said Hohloch.

The CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann also aimed in the same direction as the opposition.

"We have strong regional reporting from the RBB regional studios in Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder)," said Redmann.

"There is a lack of such regional studios in the north and west of the country, and you can tell." Green Party leader Petra Budke explained that more cooperation with Berlin was necessary.

"Having our own state broadcasting center stands in the way of this, but we need a stronger regional perspective."

A red-black-green coalition governs in Brandenburg.

But only SPD faction leader Daniel Keller supported the Prime Minister's proposal.

For a state radio station, the existing RBB capacity in Potsdam could be used, he said.

Keller pointed out that other institutions such as MDR and NDR also had state radio stations.