A couple of days ago we reported that Egypt’s giant – but cash-strapped – Radio & Television Union (ERTU) was receiving about €27 million in emergency funding in order to pay salaries.

Now the country’s government is working on a scheme to dramatically increase its TV licence fees. Today’s charge for watching TV is collected as part of consumers electricity bills. The government is proposing increasing ten-fold the current 2 piastres basic fee per Kilowatt hour of power consumed to 20 piastres/Kw-hour.

The 2 piastres basic fee has been in place since the 1970s. The Egyptian Pound is made up of 100 piastres. One Egyptian pound is worth about 14 Euro cents.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, Funding