Radio decisions

The Council is to conclude a sixty-day provisional public contract with the Media Universalis Alapítvány with regard to the ongoing tender procedure for the Budapest - Astoria (downtown) site, as a result of which Első Pesti Egyetemi Rádió will continue to broadcast on the small community frequency of Budapest 97.0 MHz between 1 August and 29 September. The procedure for the Budapest - Astoria site was launched  in the middle of May, for which the operator also submitted a tender. Based on the service provider's request, the Council also decided to conclude a provisional 180-day public contract with Golden Talk Hungary Kft., which will allow the service provider to operate commercially on the local 88.0 MHz frequency in Marcali between 1 September 2021 and 27 February 2022 under the name Rádió Plusz.

The Media Council approved the request of the operator to connect Karc FM Média Kft.’s frequency rights for Szolnok, Veszprém, Békéscsaba, Eger, Szerkszárd, Salgótarján, Szentes and Keszthely with its frequency right for Nyíregyháza 102.6 MHz. Also at the request of the service providers, the Council allowed the rights of Best Radio Kft. at Budapest 99.5 MHz – BEST FM and P1 Rádió Kft. at Pécs 101.7 MHz - 101.7 Pécs FM to be connected, as a result of which this later will broadcast under the name of 101.7 Best FM from 1 August.

The Council conducted the formal review of the submitted tenders for the community use of the local frequencies of Székesfehérvár 96.1 MHz and of Kiskőrös 91.7 MHz, and in both cases, it called on the sole tenderer Katolikus Rádió Zrt. to provide missing information.

The Council finalised the call for tenders for the community use of the Budapest 105.9 MHz regional and the Veszprém 94.6 MHz local radio frequencies, as well as for the small community use of a site in Gyöngyös.

The Council approved the draft calls for tenders for the community use of 102.1 MHz regional frequency in Budapest, and local frequencies 104.6 MHz in Sopron and 91.4 MHz in Komló.

Media supervision

The Media Council also issued a warning to the operator of FIX television after in an episode of Bóta café broadcast in mid-March it encouraged viewers to purchase the products of a sponsor company selling coffee, which is illegal. In addition, it failed to meet its legal obligation of adding a warning about product placement at the end of the programme. The Media Council always assesses the type and level of legal consequence based on a gradual approach and the principle of proportionality by taking all the circumstances of each case into account.

In a procedures initiated on the basis of a complaint forwarded by the Media Council, the Czech partner authority, RRTV, established that the service provider of AMC had violated the Czech law on the protection of minors. This is because the television channel broadcasting in Hungary under Czech jurisdiction, aired the film The Eye (A szem) at 7 pm instead of between 10 pm and 6 am, thus endangering the intellectual development of children, who may have been disturbed, frightened or distressed by parts of the film.

The full agenda of the weekly meetings of the Media Council is available on the council’s website together with the minutes of the sessions and all the resolutions – the latest documents are published after the necessary certification and administration processes.