Overview
- The MDR ran a planned black-screen editorial in late August 2026 to show viewers what losing a regional broadcasting mandate might look like if the AfD implements its post-election pledge to terminate the Rundfunkstaatsverträge.
- The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has made cancelling the MDR-Staatsvertrag and replacing public broadcasting with a smaller 'Grundfunk' a top post-election promise, with party leaders saying they will use all legal means to end the broadcaster’s current mandate.
- Legal experts note formal hurdles to rapid change because each state can give two years’ notice under the MDR-Staatsvertrag and the agreement stays in force unless at least two of the three member states withdraw, so practical effects would likely begin in 2028/2029 at the earliest.
- The Rundfunkbeitrag (broadcast fee) is governed by a separate multistate agreement and by Bundesverfassungsgericht rulings, so a unilateral exit from the MDR contract would probably not automatically end the fee or immediate funding for public broadcasting.
- Scholars warn the MDR’s stunt could politicize coverage, strengthen negative views of public service media for some viewers, and give the AfD material to claim bias, while the MDR has said it would pursue legal remedies if its mandate for Saxony-Anhalt were effectively revoked.