Warning words from the Bavarian Supreme Audit Office (ORH) to Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR): The public broadcaster must continue to make decisive savings - especially in terms of staff. For the popular BR cycle tour, the financial auditors are demanding that we keep a closer eye on the costs.
In its current audit report, the ORH confirms that the fourth largest ARD broadcaster has initiated important reform steps. The examiners also give the BR a series of homework. The ORH report on the BR is submitted to the state parliament every four years.
Based on the current broadcasting fee, experts estimate that the BR will have a deficit of 106.4 million euros by the end of 2028. Above all, the obligations for pension provision are putting a lasting strain on the BR.
When asked, a BR spokesman said: "The BR is working on making the current contribution period 2025-2028 balanced: We are reducing structures and fixed costs, reducing staff and bundling tasks in the ARD."
CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek said that many measures for savings, more cooperation and structural reforms were already underway at the BR. "Nevertheless, the ORH's warnings should be taken very seriously and confirm our view that public broadcasting must become leaner and even more cost-conscious. That is why we are currently anchoring the BR's clear commitment to the principles of efficiency and thrift in the Bavarian Broadcasting Act." Holetschek also sits on the Broadcasting Council, the broadcaster's supervisory body.
ARD and ZDF are currently suing the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe because the states have not implemented a 58 cent increase in the broadcasting fee from January 2025 recommended by the Commission for Determining the Financial Requirements of Broadcasters (KEF). It is currently 18.36 euros per month.
The BR spokesman emphasized: “The development of the broadcasting fee has not compensated for the inflation rate for many years, and there has been uncertainty about the future amount of the fee since the beginning of 2025.” The ARD state broadcasters are financed largely from broadcasting fees. In 2025, the BR received around 984 million euros from this. Additional advertising and other income generated a total of almost 1.3 billion euros in revenue.
The ORH sees further savings opportunities when it comes to personnel. The BR has cut jobs. The financial auditors also recommend questioning whether vacant positions are really necessary. The BR has around 5,300 permanent and freelance employees.
When asked, a BR spokesman said: "We will not fill every third vacant position by 2030 in order to reduce permanently tied-up personnel costs and instead be able to use the freed-up funds flexibly where new tasks arise in the future - for example through digitalization and the AI revolution."
The spokesman also emphasized that the ORH report is essentially an inventory of the years 2020 to 2024. "Since then, the BR has initiated extensive reform and consolidation measures with its corporate strategy, the BR Compass 2035 - economically, in terms of personnel, in the program and for more ARD-wide cooperation." In addition, there are the requirements of the Reform State Treaty of 2025. “All of this is being implemented.”
The ORH is calling for more economic management and transparency in the BR cycle tour event series. The subsidy from the BR budget almost doubled to more than 1.4 million euros from 2022 to 2024.
The BR said that because of the BR's 75th anniversary in 2024, the bike tour took place in all administrative districts and with a separate event day. The costs have fallen again since 2025. The BR spokesman emphasized: “We have already made adjustments to the concept and set up new project management for 2027.”
According to the BR, 1,000 cyclists took part in the six stages this year. A good 77,000 people came to the events in the stage locations. The BR is also receiving criticism for a lack of transparency in spending on the numerous offers on websites, in media libraries and on social media, the so-called telemedia in the report. Structures, personnel deployment and costs must be understandable here.
The BR spokesman said: “Within the ARD network, we continue to work together to improve cost recording and allocation as well as uniform evaluation methods for a practical solution.”
The large film production company Bavaria Film, in which the BR also has a stake, has been particularly closely monitored by financial auditors for many years. They particularly criticize the practice of distributing profits and the undisclosed salaries of the managing directors. And at the Bavaria Filmstadt in the south of Munich, the auditors are concerned about the declining number of visitors. The financial situation has improved in the meantime. However, if losses continue, the ORH recommends: Check the abandonment of Bavaria Filmstadt!
