Radio-related decisions

The Media Council awarded contracts in two local commercial radio tenders. The body declared the only bidder, Gong Radio Kft., the current operator, as the winner for the Kecel 99.6 MHz frequency tender. As a result of the radio frequency tender for 99.4 MHz of Nyíregyháza, Sunshine Rádió Kft., the current operator, can broadcast under the name 99.4 Sunshine FM.

The Media Council set the seal on the invitations to tender for the community use of the local radio frequencies of Székesfehérvár 106.6 MHz, Tatabánya 107.0 MHz and Zalaegerszeg 88.3 MHz, which are available on the NMHH website.

At the joint request of the media service providers, the body, with the effective date of 15 October 2018, authorized the radio media services of Szeged, Székesfehérvár, Tatabánya and Zalaegerszeg operated by Lánchíd Rádió Kft. and those of Pécs, Kaposvár, Szigetvár and Siklós under a single authorization to join the network of Karc FM of Budapest as a networked media service, and at the same time include the term “Karc FM” in their permanent names.

In addition, Lánchíd Rádió Kft. initiated the termination of its media service provision rights remaining for the Budapest, Balatonfüred, Keszthely, Dunaújváros, Győr and Szombathely frequencies by mutual agreement, to which the Media Council granted its consent also with the effective date of 15 October.

Fines for deviations from programming quotas and in programming schedules

During a programming week in July under review, Rádió 1 with coverage in Baja, Dunaföldvár, Paks and Szekszárd aired less Hungarian music and fewer programmes on the local community life which facilitate day-to-day activities than stated in their public contract, and therefore the Council ordered Alisca Network Kft., the operator of the radio stations, to pay a total HUF 200,000 fine. On the same programming week, Rádió 1 of Tihany and Mária Rádió Savaria were also behind their commitments for local news. The Media Council imposed a fine of HUF 25,000 on the Balaton-based radio broadcaster Life Essence Kft. and HUF 80,000 on the operator of the Szombathely-based radio station. 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 weather report is the most sponsored programme type

The number of sponsored messages grew by one-fifth in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2017: TV2 reported an increase from 32,200 to 44,100 and Duna TV from 4285 to 5520, as concluded by the investigation of the NMHH. RTL Klub reported a slight downturn (from 19,900 to 18,500). In the period under review, 1,772 sponsor messages appeared on 77,637 occasions. The most sponsored programme type in the semi‑annual summary was the weather report, a segment reporting several times a day, with TV2 having 15,400 sponsor messages compared to 1,712 of RTL Klub. The three programmes with the highest number of sponsor messages were broadcast by TV2: the weather report as mentioned above, the morning programme Mokka (1,995) and quiz programme A Piramis (1,972). Overall, the weather report of RTL Klub was the fourth most sponsored programme while A Konyhafőnök placed eighth. Család-barát magazin was the most notable in this regard on Duna TV with 1,428 sponsored messages. The most frequently appearing sponsor firm was Fundamenta Lakáskassza Zrt. with 2,120 advertisements, followed by Terrán Tetőcserépgyártó Kft. (2,072 spots) and Leier Hungária Kft. (1,829 messages).

A special form of sponsorship is when the brief message is coupled with the presentation of a prize. The total number of these messages rose sharply in comparison with the same period of 2017, as in the first half of this year 11,273 such spots appeared on the examined channels, compared to 7,349 a year earlier. On channel TV2, such messages accounted for more than half of all sponsorship communications (50.5 percent, 5,698 cases). On Duna TV this ratio was 18 percent (1,846 such messages), and 21.7 percent (2,450 cases) on RTL Klub. In comparison: in the first half of 2017, the number of sponsorships connected to sweepstakes was 797 on Duna Televízió, 2,332 on RTL Klub and 3,209 on TV2. During the first half of this year, M4 Sport broadcast 99, Sport2 462, SuperTV2 194, and Viasat3 524 prize-related messages.

In the first half of 2018, the NMHH examined the sponsor messages of a total of eight channels, including the national commercial television stations with the highest ratings such as RTL Klub and TV2 as well as those aired in the programs of the public service station Duna TV, with the sample including one month each from the M4 Sport, Sport2, Super TV2, TV4 and the Viasat3 channels. The study can be read in its entirety on the NMHH website.