Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to rally in Prague this weekend to protest the Czech government's bid to ram a bill to reform public media funding through parliament in a surprise overnight session late last month.
The populist coalition of Prime Minister Andrej Babis fast-tracked the first of three readings of the legislation, which culminated in a vote of approval at 04:36 a.m. on October 24.
The bill has already provoked numerous demonstrations and strikes across the country, but Sunday's gathering in the capital's Letna Park is likely to be by far the largest to date.
Under the government's proposal, the license fee model that currently funds Czech Television (CT) and Czech Radio (CRo) would be scrapped, and the broadcasters would be funded directly from the state budget.
The three parties in the coalition — Babis's centrist ANO, the far-right SPD, and radical conservative Motorists, whose voter bases tend to be less affluent — insist that the license fee is an unfair tax.
The parties argue that the new arrangement, which would see funding for CT and CRo cut by around 15% in the first year, would make the two more efficient. They also point out that several other European Union states have made similar changes.
Critics have angrily dismissed these justifications.
