Bosnia & Herzegovina’s national broadcaster BHRT has won more rulings on receiving unpaid TV licence fees from RTRS, the broadcaster within Republika Srpska. Though the broadcast lost a larger court case, smaller cases have been ruled in BHRT’s favour, mandating the Srpska broadcaster to pay back its fees, which could go to clearing BHRT’s debts.
Debts being settled
Bosnia & Herzegovina has been absent from the Eurovision Song Contest as a result of unpaid debts to the EBU, with the country last appearing in 2016. Since then, the EBU has refused to let the country participate until its debts – totalling 22 million KM (€11.5 million) – are totally paid off.
Earlier this year, it was announced that BHRT had launched a legal case against RTRS, the broadcaster serving the Serb area of the nation, in a way to claim back a total of 17 million marks (€8.5 million), which would drastically reduce the debt owed to the EBU and help to bring the prospect of a return to the Contest. However, a court in Banja Luka ruled against the broadcaster, meaning it was not obliged to receive the money in what was a major blow to the state media.
Now, however, the same court has ruled in favour of BHRT on two other cases, which now mandates RTRS to pay a total of nearly 5.5 million KM (€2.8million) over unpaid tax to fund the broadcaster. The debt, which was built up from the period of September to December in both 2019 and 2023, will go a long way in paying off the broadcaster’s debts. However, serious questions still remain over the future of the broadcaster due to spiralling debts outside of the Republika Srpska issue.
Meanwhile, the possibility of Bosnia & Herzegovina returning to Eurovision remains unlikely for the moment given the large financial burden it would place on the broadcaster. The EBU has not commented on BHRT’s recent efforts to settle the debt.
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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News Source: N1
Photo Credit: Sarajevo Times
Thomas James