NMHH Media Council: Over HUF 246 million in funding for new seasons of animated series

Published: 10 April 2019

The Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) has provided grants in the total value of HUF 246.3 million to five successful applicants in the Attila Dargay tender for funding animation films, under the decisions taken by the Board this week. The NMHH Media Council extended the broadcasting rights of Aktív Rádió 102.2 in Tiszakécske and Forrás Rádió in Komárom-Esztergom County, finalised the text of invitations to tender for local radio frequencies in Kisújszállás and Sátoraljaújhely and carried out the formal examination of the bids submitted to the tender invitations in Göd and Törökbálint.

Successful applications of the Attila Dargay tender

Five animation studios won a total of HUF 246.3 million in the Attila Dargay tender launched under the Hungarian Media Patronage Programme at the end of 2018. Kuflik (The Grickles), a series created by Kristóf Jurik and Géza M. Tóth is continued with a thirteen-episode season, the adventures of Szupermalac (Super Pig) and Űrpatkány (Space Rat) created by Csaba Máli will continue with six new episodes, Zoltán Miklósy will direct ten new episodes of Janó Manó (Pixie Fix), while nine new episodes of Átjáró Másvárosba (A Door to Othertown) by Bálint Farkas Gelley will explore the future of the protagonists, Kázmér and Kamilla. Katalin Gláser received a grant for a standalone film: she will produce a new feature-length film called A legendás család – Használt ágyúgolyó (The legendary family – Used cannonball) based on her animated series Városi legendák (Urban legends) that also received funding previously.

Decisions concerning radio frequencies

At the request of the relevant media service providers, the NMHH Media Council renewed media service provision rights of Aktív Rádió 102.2 and Forrás Rádió for another five years. The former local radio station broadcasts on the Tiszakécske 102.2 MHz frequency on a commercial basis, while the latter is a regional radio station and broadcasts on the Tatabánya 97.8 MHz, Komárom 90.5 MHz and Esztergom 98.1 MHz frequencies on a commercial basis.

The Board finalised the text of the invitations to tender for the usage of the Kisújszállás 103.2 MHz local community frequency and the Sátoraljaújhely 104.9 MHz local commercial frequency and will publish them on its website on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Bids will be submitted in approximately one month’s time.

After the rectification phases of the formal examination, the NMHH Media Council registered FM 4 Rádió Kft. as a bidder in the tenders for the community use of both the Göd 97.3 MHz regional frequency and the Törökbálint 97.6 MHz local frequency.

The NMHH Media Council imposed a HUF 20,000 fine on the operator of Körzeti Televízió Tata as the review of a programming week in January revealed that daily regular news is given less air time than necessary. When imposing a fine, the Media Council always determines the form and extent of the fine with due consideration to all circumstances of the specific case, including all other violations in the same subject previously committed by the operator and employs the principle of progressiveness and proportionality.

The full agenda of the Media Council’s weekly sessions can be found on the Board’s website, along with the minutes of meetings and all decisions taken; the latest decisions will be published after the required validation and administration period.