The minister stipulated this be done in a way that the new development be deemed a nationally significant cultural building.

The Cultural Endowment Fund will provide up to €62 million for the long-awaited project.

In a letter sent to the Cultural Endowment Fund on May 10, Minister Purga stated that, given sufficient financial resources, the board could choose to fund a nationally important cultural construction project, provided it does not affect the completion of other nationally important cultural constructions as confirmed by the Riigikogu.

"The Culture Minister hereby submits the above-mentioned proposal for the funding of the construction of the new ERR television house as a nationally significant cultural building," the minister stated in her official communique.

Purga argued the production and broadcasting of high-quality television and radio programs are in the public interest of Estonia.

"Freedom of speech and a diversity of opinions can only be achieved with the production of free and diverse journalistic content, including TV journalism. For culture to unify society, it must be created and transmitted in an audiovisual form and on a daily basis. The functioning of the necessary ecosystem is not possible without conditions that meet modern standards," she stressed.

State-of-the-art studios would also enable ERR to organize major public projects like Eesti Laul not just as recorded and broadcast shows, but as live public concerts, Purga went on.

She said: "Boosting cooperation possibilities with performing arts institutions [in recording concerts or other performances, both for archive purposes and for producing and broadcasting cultural programs] and with other cultural institutions [for instance producing clips for the Song Festival preparations, etc.]."

Based on the above, Purga reaffirmed that the planned new ERR television house will fulfill the cultural sector's strategic objectives, and is a nationally significant object.

The current television house (Telemaja) on Gonsiori, owned by ERR, was commissioned in 1965, with a gross area of about 25,000 square meters, but is now dilapidated.

Between 2012 and 2014, the Radio House (Raadiomaja), also on Gonsiori, saw extensive refurbishments and now provides all ERR radio stations with the required technical facilities, as well as hosting the bulk of the archives.

Following that development, from 2014 to 2017, the "Old radio house" which was home to Estonian radio from its very early days until the current Radio House was built, in the early 1970s, was also refurbished.

Now known as the News House (Uudistemaja) and located on Kreutzwaldi, this building is home the merged newsroom, substantial recording studios, and administration facilities.

This left only TV, of the three media types, without new facilities.

A 2014 analysis by state real estate firm the RKAS found that building a new TV complex would cost about half as much as reconstructing the existing one, if calculated over a 30-year period.

The new ERR TV house is planned for a plot currently occupied by a staff parking lot, and between the Radio and News houses.

The new television complex is expected to be completed in 2027; the project was also held up ostensibly by the Covid pandemic and other factors, following the approval of the winning design, in 2019.

Its estimated price tag is €77 million.

If the Cultural Endowment Fund will provide €62 million in support; the difference will be obtained from the sale of the existing TV house and of properties ERR owns on Tuisu tänav, also in Tallinn.

Around half-a-dozen other buildings are also listed by the Cultural Endowment Fund as objects of cultural importance, including the National Library (Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu). Indeed, funds initially earmarked for the TV house had also been used for the refurbishment of this building, another factor in the delay to the development.

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