Comparative Study of Financing Mechanism of World's Public and State-Owned Broadcasting Organizations

The present research work was conducted with an aim of identifying financing methods of public and state-owned broadcasting organizations in the world. This research has conducted comparative study on 58 radio and television organizations in 49 world countries. The required data in this comparative study was collected through reviewing the websites, financial reports and records, viewpoints and analyses related to these organizations. In this study, 17 financing methods were identified and then the methods were classified in 9 groups. These groups included “government-allocated budget”, “radio/TV license fees”, “commercials”, “assistance from individuals, complexes and institutions”, “subscription fees”, “sponsors”, “taxes in different ways”, “selling products and services”, and “others”. From among the 9 groups, “commercials”, with 63/26%, top the list of these groups followed by “radio/TV license fees” with 61/2% and “government-allocated budget” with 44/9%. Also it was clarified in this research work that there is an important difference in the financing methods among media organization in European and non-European countries. In European countries “radio/TV license fees”, “commercials”, and “government-allocated budget” stand on top of the list of these groups respectively while in non-European countries the order is completely the contrary.