Bosnia and Herzegovina’s struggling public service broadcaster BHRT has seen a lifeline thrown to it as it wins a legal challenge to increase its funding.
BHRT under financial strain
Bosnian media outlet KLIX is reporting that the constitutional court of the country has ruled that it is entitled to more of the television licence fee within Republika Srpska. The dispute centred around the licence fee collections within Republika Srpska. Under the law BHRT is entitled to half of the fee collected within the locale, with Serbian language broadcaster RTRS entitled to the other half. As part of the long standing escalating dispute between the sub-national entity and the federal government the licence fee towards the BHRT had been curtailed. The current court cases have seen it upheld that these actions are illegal, with RTRS potentially owing BHRT upwards of 100 million marks.
The embattled BHRT is under significant financial strain, with the financial sanctions it faces being the reason for its absence from Eurovision.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Eurovision Journey
Bosnia and Herzegovina were a mini-powerhouse in the Eurovision Song Contest in the time that they took part. Bosnia and Herzegovina debuted in Eurovision in 1993 with Fazla, singing the song ‘Sva bol svijeta’. The song placed 16th, scoring 27 points. Bosnia qualified for the final every single time bar once; their best result coming in 2006 with ‘Leija’ sung by Hari Mata Hari, which came third scoring 229 points in the Grand Final.
Bosnia and Herzegovina last participated in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2016 with Dalal and Deen featuring Ana Rucner and Jala. Singing the song ‘Ljubav Je’, unfortunately they failed to qualify – placing 11th in the Semi Final with 104 points. This marked the first time that Bosnia & Herzegovina was not in a final in its participation.
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Source: KLIX
Photo credit: EBU
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