Prague protest: thousands rally against Czech public media bill

Key takeaways

• A crowd of several thousand filled Old Town Square on Sunday, October 25, opposing the Babiš government's plan to scrap licence fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio.
• The lower house fast-tracked the bill in a rare overnight session, with the first-reading vote held at 4:36 a.m. on Saturday, October 24.
• The plan would fund public broadcasters from the state budget and, according to broadcasters cited by Al Jazeera, cut their money by about 15%.
• Staff at both broadcasters have called a strike for Tuesday, November 3, and a larger rally is planned at Letná park on November 15.
• The bill still needs Senate approval, and the opposition says it will challenge the process at the Constitutional Court.

A Prague protest over public media drew several thousand people to Old Town Square on Sunday, October 25, against the Babiš government's bill to scrap licence fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio and fund them from the state budget.

What happened at the Prague public media protest

The Prague protest over public media funding filled Old Town Square on the afternoon of Sunday, October 25, and spilled into nearby streets, according to the Associated Press. Al Jazeera put the crowd at "several thousand", and Reuters and Bloomberg both reported "thousands". No official police count had been published at the time of writing.

The rally was organised by Million Moments for Democracy, the civic group behind several of the largest demonstrations in Czech history. One of its leaders, Mikuláš Minář, told the crowd, "You've gone too far; we won't allow this country to be compromised," AP reported. Protesters chanted "We've had enough" and "This must not be allowed to pass", and many held up signs reading "4:36", the time of the overnight vote, according to Al Jazeera.

The overnight vote in the lower house

The trigger for the protest was a session of the Chamber of Deputies that ran through the night of Friday, October 23. Speaker Tomio Okamura limited debate and set the vote for 4:36 a.m. local time on Saturday, October 24 (02:36 UTC), Radio Prague International reported. The bill passed the first of three readings.

Opposition parties said the timing left them almost no room to debate. They plan to take the way the coalition handled the first reading to the Constitutional Court and to raise it with the European Commission, according to Radio Prague International.

Timeline of the latest developments

What the public media bill would change

Czech households and businesses now pay monthly licence fees that go straight to Czech Television (ČT) and Czech Radio (ČRo), so the money never passes through the state budget. The government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš wants to scrap those fees and fund both broadcasters from the national budget instead. The coalition of Babiš's ANO party, the SPD and the Motorists has said it wants the change in force by January 1, 2027.

The broadcasters warn that the plan would cut their funding by about 15%, possibly as soon as next year, Al Jazeera reported. Babiš has said the reform is about making funding more transparent and is not an attack on media independence.

What we know and what we don't know yet

What we know: the bill passed its first reading on October 24; thousands protested on October 25; a strike is called for November 3; and the bill still needs to pass the Senate before it becomes law.

What we don't know yet: there is no independent crowd count. It is not yet clear when the second and third readings will be held, whether the Senate will pass the bill, or whether President Petr Pavel would sign it. The final budget amounts for each broadcaster in the version that reaches the Senate are also still open.

Reactions from Pavel and Babiš

President Petr Pavel said the rushed handling of the bill undermined confidence in the government's good intentions, according to Radio Prague International. Babiš accused the opposition of using the issue to raise tensions. Labour unions, university rectors, churches and international media organisations have backed the broadcasters' strike, Al Jazeera and AP reported.

Background

Babiš returned to power after ANO won the October 2025 general election. His coalition includes two parties that Al Jazeera describes as far-right. Critics of the media plan compare it to steps taken against public broadcasters by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Public media funding has been a flashpoint all year. Earlier rallies, including one outside Czech Television's headquarters in June, drew thousands of people, according to Czech and regional media.

What it means

For the Czech Republic, the fight is about who controls public broadcasters' money. Moving funding into the annual budget would let each government decide the amount every year, which critics say could be used to pressure newsrooms. The government says it would make the system simpler and more transparent. The next tests are the November 3 strike, the remaining readings in the lower house, and the Senate vote. Any Constitutional Court challenge could delay the planned January 2027 start. The protests also put the Czech Republic alongside Hungary and Slovakia in European debates about media freedom.

For more on the people and institutions involved, see Bullquill's pages on Andrej Babiš and the Czech Republic.