HUF 125 million awarded for the production of local and regional magazine and new programmes

Published: 18 September 2019

At its weekly session, the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), among other things, decided to grant close to HUF 125 million to 25 television stations in the second round of the tender for regular news programmes as well as public infotainment and cultural magazine programmes. In addition, the board announced the operator of Mária Rádió as the winner in the tender procedure for the community use of the Keszthely 93.4 MHz frequency, and registered the calls for tenders of one frequency in Szombathely and another in Szentes. The Media Council also approved the semi-annual report of four co-regulatory professional organizations.

A total of HUF 125 million of programme production grants awarded to 25 television stations

In the first round of the Hungarian Media Patronage Programme’s tender for supporting the production of regular news, cultural and public infotainment programmes intended for local and regional television stations, the Council announced that 25 television stations will receive a total of HUF 124.8 million in grants. The grant can be used to produce public infotainment magazines by Kiskőrös Televízió, Szentgál Televízió, Móra-Net TV of Mórahalom, Ladány Televízió, Csurgói Városi Televízió, Kék-Kálló TV Derecske, Városi TV of Mohács, Gólya TV of Bercel and Kistelek Városi Televízió. Winners in the news programmes category include Debrecen Televízió, Sopron Televízió, Kölcsey Televízió of Nyíregyháza, 7.TV of Békéscsaba, Tolnatáj Televízió, Gyula Televízió, Körös Televízió of Szarvas, Karcag Televízió and Gyöngyösi Városi Televízió (City Television of Gyöngyös). Halas TV of Kiskunhalas, Pécs TV, Keszthelyi Televízió, Fehérvár Televízió, Zemplén TV of Sátoraljaújhely as well as „hatoscsatorna” and d1 TV of Budapest can use the grant to produce cultural magazine programmes.

Decisions concerning radio tenders and co-regulators

The Media Council announced Mária Rádió Frekvencia Kft. as the winner of the tender procedure for the community use of the local frequency Keszthely 93.4 MHz. The winner will use its frequency entitlement under the name Mária Rádió Helikon, networked with FM 4 Rádió Kft.

Following the formal review of the bids submitted in the tender announced for the community use of the local frequency Hatvan 94.0 MHz and the regional frequency Eger 91.8 MHz, the Media Council called upon Magyar Katolikus Rádió Alapítvány (Hungarian Catholic Foundation), the single bidder in both tender procedures, to submit the missing documents.

The Media Council has finalized and will publish on Thursday on its website the call for tenders announced for two local radio frequencies, namely for the community use of Szombathely 97.1 MHz and for the commercial use of Szentes 106.1 MHz. The bids may be submitted on specific days in October as defined in the call.

The Council approved the reports of four co-regulatory professional organisations, namely the Association of the Hungarian Electronic Broadcasters (Magyar Elektronikus Műsorszolgáltatók Egyesülete, MEME), the Hungarian Publishers’ Association (Magyar Lapkiadók Egyesülete, MLE), the Hungarian Advertising Self-Regulatory Board (Önszabályozó Reklám Testület, ÖRT) and the Association of Hungarian Content Providers (Magyarországi Tartalomszolgáltatók Egyesülete, MTE), for the first half of 2019.

Media supervisory decisions

The Media Council imposed a HUF 80,000 fine on the operator of Spirit FM, the small-community radio of the Terézváros district of Budapest, for broadcasting less spoken text, less Hungarian music, fewer public-service programmes intended for the community and dealing with the local community and facilitating everyday life, fewer news, national minority programmes and public service broadcasts, and more music and reruns on a programming week in May than its contractual commitments. In addition, the radio occasionally did not broadcast at all.

When imposing a fine, the Media Council always determines the form and extent of the penalties with due consideration to all the circumstances of the specific case and employing 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 the meetings and all decisions taken; the latest decisions will be published after the necessary validation and administration period.