The ORF is legally obliged to list the salaries of those employees who earn over 170,000 euros per year, including allowances. In total, 65 people are listed for 2025 (including subsidiaries), which is ten fewer than in 2024. According to the foreword to the report, the main reasons were age-related departures and the use of partial retirement.

Former Sports Chief and ORF III Managing Director Among Top Earners

Following the top three are the former ORF sports chief Hannes Aigelsreiter (approx. 340,000 euros) and the two ORF III managing directors Peter Schöber (approx. 312,000 euros) and Kathrin Zierhut-Kunz (approx. 285,000 euros) on the list. The first ORF director to appear is Eva Schindlauer (approx. 280,000 euros). The other three directors Ingrid Thurnher, Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz, and Harald Kräuter each earned around 270,000 euros. Thurnher is now also the interim ORF chief.

Before them is "ZiB 2" anchorman Armin Wolf (approx. 276,000 euros). Other well-known television personalities appearing in the transparency report include correspondent Christian Wehrschütz (approx. 216,000 euros), Hans Bürger (approx. 208,000 euros), and Hanno Settele (approx. 175,000 euros).

Significantly More Men in Higher Salary Classes

When broken down by gender, it shows that no woman (but four men) in ORF earns over 300,000 euros. Also, in the next four categories 200,000 to 300,000 euros (9 vs. 21), 150,000 to 200,000 euros (20 vs. 63), 100,000 to 150,000 euros (224 vs. 527), and 75,000 to 100,000 euros (444 vs. 569), significantly more men are represented. The ratio reverses in the two lowest salary groups.

Austerity Measures at ORF

They are aware of the privilege of public funding and handle the contributions of the population carefully, assured the ORF in the foreword. For many years, they have been pursuing an intensive austerity course, which involves "severe cuts" for the staff. Since 2007, nearly 1,000 full-time equivalents have been reduced. Last year, secondary employment and external consulting services also decreased. The number of people who earned additional income from secondary employment within the ORF group fell from 987 in 2024 to 739 in the previous year. ORF attributes this to stricter compliance regulations.

Additionally, the ORF pointed to "extremely moderate salary agreements below inflation." For individuals in the top two employment groups, there was a zero-wage round. Overall, they have continuously reduced the salary claims of employees over the past decades. The current ORF collective agreement, which applies to more than 40 percent of the workforce, is at market level. The average income derived from it is about one-third below the old contract systems of the ORF.

Advertising Revenue and Expenditure

The transparency report also breaks down advertising revenue by channel. ORF 2 leads with around 72 million euros last year. Following closely are Ö3 (45 million euros) and ORF 1 (44 million euros). The advertising volume for ORF III (3.1 million euros), FM4 (2.3 million euros), and ORF Sport+ (290,000 euros) is rather modest in comparison. ORF itself invested around nine million euros in self-promotion, with the majority based on barter deals with various media houses in Austria.

"While Austrians suffer from inflation, record taxes, and rising living costs, individual ORF grandees receive princely salaries," criticized FPÖ media spokesperson Christian Hafenecker in a statement, calling for an "immediate legal salary cap at ORF." An independent audit commission should scrutinize the entire salary structure, Hafenecker suggested, and called for a "leaner, more transparent" ORF without "compulsory funding."

(APA/Red.)

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