Is there a magic number in the battle over the funding of Czech TV and Czech Radio that satisfies the two public stations and that also takes the wind out of the arguments of those who are protesting against the government's plans? Perhaps so. If ANO, SPD and Moto reduced the annual budgets by, say, 10-15% but kept the possibility for people to pay the user's fees on a voluntary basis, the total annual receipts of ČT and ČRo could in fact rise, esp. given how voters of the opposition parties are so willing to contribute to good causes. Overall revenue might even skyrocket initially, allowing the stations to create significant rainy-day funds. But why would Andrej Babiš and Tomio Okamura agree to this if what they really want is to subjugate the public media, as the opposition claims? Perhaps because it would be a sneaky way to get what they're really after - retroactive inspections of the public stations by the NKÚ audit office. Most people would have no objection to this, and why should they? No one should be stealing, right? The magic number, then, is one that causes the well-intentioned masses to start noticing that a small clique of insiders might have ulterior motives.