In 1985, a decree by the Council of Ministers established a mandatory share for the arts to be included in federal civil construction projects (“Kunst und Bau”) in all provinces: 1-2% of the net construction cost has been made available to art in public projects. With the outsourcing of the federal buildings to the Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG) in the early 2000s, the obligatory implementation of works of art or installations in a public building has de facto fallen. It is now up to individual institutions (such as BIG) or or the federal states, to make a voluntary contribution to art in architecture. Salzburg for example introduced a fund for art in architecture in public spaces, with an annual funding of 300 000 EUR in 2008. With “Art in Public Space” the province of Lower Austria has been focusing on the combination of art and architecture, and the City of Vienna (as a joint initiative of the departments of culture, urban development and housing) has founded KÖR (Kunst im öffentlichen Raum) to strengthen art in public space in 2004.
Advertising in the public broadcasting services is regulated by the Austrian Broadcasting Act. In its two TV channels, the state broadcaster ORF is allowed to broadcast advertising programmes only nationwide and with a maximum of 42 minutes per day, ‘interruption advertising’ is forbidden. The radio station Ö1 is the only ‘advertising-free’ public station and Radio Orange is one of the advertising-free private radio stations.
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