Blog

Media Authority awards IMG HUF 1.5 billion contract for public media

November 12, 2012

Budapest-based Inter Media Group Ltd. (IMG) media agency won a HUF 1.5 billion (EUR 5 million) tender to handle media buying for the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), the body that manages Hungary’s public media, according to an announcement in early November. IMG is majority owned by Péter Patonai, who was appointed as CEO of the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) during current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s first government (1998-2002).

Neo FM goes off the air

November 11, 2012

Neo FM, one of Hungary’s two national commercial radio stations, ceased broadcasting November 10 after losing a court battle with Hungary’s Media Council over an unpaid broadcasting fee. Neo is closely linked to Hungary's Socialist Party. The station's closure leaves only one national commercial radio in operation in Hungary, Class FM, a station a majority owned by Fidesz-linked businessman Zsolt NyergesBoth Class FM and Neo FM were granted their licenses in 2009 by Hungary's former media regulator, ORTT, in a highly controversial tender competition. Hungary's Constitutional Court has since ruled Class FM's license award as unlawful because the company's ownership structure violated the former (1996) media law's provisions on media concentration and should have been disqualified from the tender competition.  

Despite heavy layoffs, public TV hires reporters from pro-government TV station

November 8, 2012

Hungary’s public media management company, the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), stirred controversy in early November over reports it had hired reporters from conservative station Echo TV despite ongoing plans to downsize. Echo TV is owned by top Fidesz donor Gábor Széles, who also owns the national pro-government daily newspaper, Magyar Hírlap

In response, the MTVA confirmed that its news office had “expanded with a few excellent professionals, so that the news shows of M1/M2 and Duna TV and the platforms of the radio news service can provide even more professional and complete reporting to the viewers and listeners of public media channels and its mobile platforms.”

Consortium of banks to finance purchase, upgrade of public media headquarters

November 7, 2012

The fund that manages Hungary's public media has taken a loan of HUF63 billion (210 million) to purchase and upgrade its headquarters and production base on Kunigunda útja, in Budapest's Óbuda. A consortium made up of four banks will finance the loan. According to a statement from the Media Services and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), a tender for a public procurement loan was won by a consortium consisting of MFB, OTP Bank, KDB Bank and Magyar Takarékszövetkezet Bank, who made a joint offer.

Media Council rejects court ruling on Klubrádió

November 6, 2012

In a statement posted on its blog, the Media Council says it is unwilling to execute a court decision ordering the body to accept Klubrádió’s tender for a radio frequency. According the Media Council, Klubrádió’s application contained unsigned blank pages, which legally allows the Media Council to disqualify the broadcaster from the tender competition. In March 2012, the Metropolitan Court of Budapest ruled that the Media Council violated the law by rejecting the station’s tender application to retain its 95.3 MHz frequency.