Chronic financial crisis and funding collapse BHRT's modern history is a chronicle of survival amid existential threats stemming from a deliberately sabotaged and dysfunctional funding model. The public broadcasting system is funded by a monthly license fee (RTV tax of 7.5 KM as of 2025), collected via
electricity bills and distributed as 50% to BHRT, 25% to RTVFBiH, and 25% to RTRS. This model has completely broken down, creating a permanent state of insolvency for the state-level broadcaster. The primary cause of the crisis is the systemic withholding of funds. RTRS, which collects the tax on its territory, has for years refused to transfer BHRT's 50% share. By 2025, this debt had ballooned to over 100 million KM, despite rulings from the Constitutional Court of BiH and the Supreme Court of RS confirming the practice is illegal. Concurrently, politicians from parties like the
HDZ BiH and
SNSD have openly encouraged non-payment of the tax in the Federation, leading to a collection rate of only around 50.58% in the first half of 2025. The system's central coordinating body, the System Board, has been paralyzed by political disputes and has not functioned effectively for years. As a direct result, BHRT has accumulated catastrophic debts: over 21 million KM to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), 9.6 million KM in
VAT, 1.5 million KM to the
state electricity company, and over 50 million KM in unpaid salaries and contributions to its employees. The EBU has threatened to block BHRT's accounts and seize its assets if the debt is not resolved by February 2026. BHRT was supposed to suspend its operations from 1 July 2016, a date selected on purpose because of its commitments to the annual anniversary memorial of the
Srebrenica massacre and its coverage of
UEFA Euro 2016, but it was meant to be provisional. The crisis reached an unprecedented peak in 2025. In June, the BHRT Board of Directors warned that ''"in this media house, the lights have truly already been turned off and it's a question of days when complete darkness will come."
By November 2025, Acting General Director Belmin Karamehmedović condemned the political inaction, stating that the Parliament was "doing nothing to help"'' and warning of the broadcaster's imminent collapse in its 80th year. This political disregard was starkly demonstrated when the
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a draft state budget for 2025 that excluded any financial assistance for BHRT, prompting a desperate appeal for survival from the broadcaster's Independent Trade Union. This draft was subsequently passed by the
Parliamentary Assembly on November 17th 2025. During the debate, the Minister of Finance,
Srđan Amidžić, stated that making BHRT a direct budgetary beneficiary was
"not in line with the Law on BHRT," effectively closing the door on a state-funded rescue and confirming the political establishment's refusal to intervene despite the existential threat. Following the budget's adoption, the political hostility towards BHRT was laid bare. MInister Amidžić shifted the blame for the crisis onto the broadcaster's own management, publicly stating, ''"You know where the solution is, fire the incompetent management that has done what it's done,"'' and comparing BHRT's request for state aid to an
Italian broadcaster asking the
BiH government for help. Meanwhile,
Sanja Vulić, a member of parliament from the SNSD, stated her party had
"nothing against" the
European Union paying BHRT's debt, but that using state funds would be an unacceptable transfer of competencies, arguing that cultural institutions like BHRT were
"not a constituent part of the Constitution." Political interference and editorial pressure Beyond the structural funding issues, BHRT and the public broadcasting system are plagued by internal mismanagement and deep-seated political interference. A 2024 report described the broadcasters as
"hostages of political interests," citing non-transparent business practices, inadequate management, and political influence over editorial policy. The Board of Directors, whose members are appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, has been accused of acting as a
"Trojan horse" for political parties, with a history of pressuring and dismissing senior managers and editors. Despite legal mandates, the central coordinating body for the system,
the Corporation of Public Broadcasters, has never been established due to political blockades, primarily from parties in Republika Srpska and Croatian-nationalist parties, preventing any systemic reform. This hostility has often translated into official boycotts, with RS government officials refusing to give statements to BHRT journalists. The issue of BHRT is considered an internal one of BiH by Milorad Dodik, the president of RS and SNSD, who in 2024, recalled that the international community imposed the Law on PBS. ''“BHRT was not even formed as a result of an internal agreement between Republika Srpska and the Federation, that's why it's like this,”
Dodik wrote on the social media Twitter/X. He called BHRT “a service for
Muslims,”
and concluded that “it should not exist as such”
in 2022. A significant internal scandal erupted in 2021 when a BHRT news anchor referred to the Army of RBiH as "so-called"'', leading to the immediate suspension of the anchor and the news editor.
Internal system conflict The relationship between the three broadcasters was often
antagonistic. In May 2024, BHRT cut FTV's signal for several hours, accusing it of not paying for transmission services. FTV responded by filing criminal charges against BHRT's management, and a local court quickly ordered BHRT to restore the signal, forcing it to provide services without payment. This also made BHRT temporarily suspend 15 of their shows, shortening some as well. This dispute was rooted in significant inter-entity debt; by 2025, BHRT claimed that RTVFBiH owed it over 14 million KM for services rendered, while RTRS's debt for unpaid tax shares exceeded 95 million KM. BHRT successfully completed the first phase of digitizing its production capacities using its own funds by the end of 2014. However, the project to build the nationwide transmission network was paralyzed. Former BHRT director
Mehmed Agović identified
"obstructions from Republika Srpska" as the main obstacle, accusing the entity's authorities of preventing the installation of purchased equipment on RTRS facilities and the
Council of Ministers of blocking the spending of already approved funds. As a result, Bosnia and Herzegovina became the only country in Europe to miss the June 17th, 2015 deadline. The consequences were immediate. On the day of the deadline, the first analog transmitter was switched off on the request of
Serbia, as the unshielded analog signal from BiH interfered with neighboring countries' new digital signals. This left a wide area of Eastern Bosnia without a BHRT signal. The Regulator Agency for Communications (RAK) warned that further shutdowns were possible. After a year of further delays, test digital broadcasting by the three public broadcasters finally began on October 14th 2016, covering only Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Mostar. The launch was delayed by two weeks at the request of RTRS. At the ceremony, BHRT director
Belmin Karamehmedović emphasized that the broadcasters had done their part
"despite the difficult situation," while RTVFBiH director
Džemal Šabić lamented that
"ideology had interfered with the IT revolution." The process effectively stalled after the limited test launch. By 2017, BHRT employees described the digitalization process as
"halted halfway," with purchased equipment becoming obsolete and qualified technical staff leaving due to the broadcaster's financial crisis. The situation led to real-world consequences for citizens. In 2022, following complaints from
Croatia that analog signals from BiH were interfering with its
5G network, RAK ordered the shutdown of over 150 analog transmitters across the country. This left an estimated 20% of the population, particularly in rural areas, without a television signal, as the nationwide digital network to replace it was still not operational. A commercial operator, VidiTV, launched a limited DVB-T2 service in 2022, covering some urban areas. However, the comprehensive state-led project remained dormant until a new contract was signed in January 2024. Under Minister
Edin Forto, a renewed effort began. In July 2025, the DVB-T2 signal was officially launched in Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka, with Forto acknowledging BiH was
"the last European country" to do so. However, the rollout was immediately marred by a new political dispute over control of the signal distribution. Minister Forto signed a decision assigning the "
Majevica" digital region, which includes the populous
Tuzla Canton, to be fed by the RTRS headend in Banja Luka instead of the BHRT headend in Sarajevo. BHRT leadership rejected this decision, citing a 2015 RAK decision which granted exclusive authority over the method of broadcasting to the joint Board of the Public RTV System, not the Ministry. This move was criticized as handing control of a key region in the Federation to the broadcaster from Republika Srpska, further complicating the final stages of the digital transition. Despite this, a major milestone was reached in September 2025 with the installation of the country's largest antenna system on
Mount Vlašić. The entire project, comprising 156 locations, was slated for completion by December 2025, finally promising to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina fully into the digital broadcasting age, a full decade after the original deadline. Employees refer to the old equipment as
"museum pieces," noting that while TVSA was once a regional leader in TV production, it had fallen
"below everyone" due to a complete lack of funds for modernization. Report vehicles purchased for the Olympics stand idle or are cannibalized for parts, with crews often having to move cameras between the studio and the vehicles to function. Large sections of the 30,000-square-meter building remain unfinished and unused since its original construction, with
UNHCR foil still on the windows and visible scars from the war. Despite the conditions, staff maintained a sense of dedication, with one technician stating, ''"A little enthusiasm and desire still keeps us going. We don't ask if the salary was paid or when it will be, we just work."''
Symbolic of the state's survival Analysts and public figures have framed this multifaceted crisis not as a series of unfortunate events, but as a deliberate political strategy to dismantle state-level institutions. Prominent film director
Dino Mustafić, who began his career at BHRT, argued that the collapse is a conscious act, writing: ''"The shutdown of BHRT is not a technical issue. It is a blow to the collective memory, to the citizens' right to know, to the very idea that the state exists as a common project."
He and others have placed direct responsibility on the Presidency of BiH, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, and the Parliamentary Assembly for their refusal to act, while identifying the policies of the SNSD and HDZ BiH as fundamentally aimed at the "ethnicization of media"
and the undermining of a shared public space. This perspective holds that the struggle for BHRT is symbolic of the larger struggle for the state itself, with Mustafić warning that allowing its failure would be an "unprecedented generational shame"'' and the achievement of a strategic goal for those who desire the final end of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Possibility of shutting down On 26 February 2026, BHT1 halted all programming and replaced it with the following message: Today, BHRT is not airing its regular programming. This is a warning about the consequences and the absence of a systemic solution and the possible permanent shutdown of your public service. Without an urgent decision from the competent authorities, BHRT faces the blocking of its account and the cessation of its basic function of public service in the interest of its citizens. News bulletins will be aired as part of the schedule. If the closure happens, Bosnia and Herzegovina will become the first country in Europe to lack a public broadcasting system. == Cultural heritage and archives ==