According to Statistics Lithuania, the average gross monthly earnings is 2081.8 Litas (603 EUR), which is slightly higher in the public sector and lower in private business. generally, all mainstream media are inexpensive and easily accessible. There are no license fees for radio and TV in Lithuania. Moreover, one free newspaper (15 min) is available in the three biggest cities of Lithuania (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda) – with the media crisis, however, its number of weekly issues was reduced from five to three. The mainstream print media are available at a low cost, too. For instance, one issue of the most expensive daily Lietuvos rytas (mid-market daily) costs around 1 Euro if bought from a kiosk and 30 cents through a subscription. Tabloids are significantly cheaper. Quality political news monthlies are more expensive (a sold issue costs 1.5 Euro). In the Internet media field, only one business daily requires payment for access to its print editions and all other dailies offer free content.
Briefly, all mainstream news portals offer free content, there are no taxes to pay for the public service media (TV and radio) and newspapers are facing serious competition and dropping numbers of readers, thus they are competing with different subscription offers. As different media are available (and at a low cost), generally, the amount of media consumed is increasing in all sectors. Internet subscription is also inexpensive as different types of offers are promoted.
