A total of more than HUF 122 million granted for radios and community service providers

In the second round of this year’s technical tender for the support of public media service providers published by the Media Council the winners will be awarded a total of HUF 33.7 million for the acquisition of studio, sound, lighting equipment, signal transmission devices and IT tools necessary for the provision of media services. The following television channels received support: Soltvadkerti TV, Móra-Net TV in Mórahalom, TV Budakalász, Zemplén TV, Füred TV, KisDuna TV in Dunaharaszti, Irány TV in Ládbesenyő, RTV Szekszárd and Hegyvidék Television in Budapest. Community and small community radio stations receiving support include Trend FM in Budapest, and Első Pesti Egyetemi Rádió respectively.

Twenty-seven programmes of twenty-three radio stations were awarded a total of HUF 88.5 million in the third round of the 2021 incentive tender of the Media Council to promote the production of news programmes, thematic and public service magazine programmes. Rádió 1 in Sopron, Veszprém and Keszthely, Rádió M in Miskolc, Mega Rádió in Orosháza, 98.4 Mega Rádió in Békéscsaba, Rádió Most Kaposvár, KORONAfm100 in Kalocsa, Táska Rádió in Székesfehérvár, Európa Rádió in Nyíregyháza, MaxiRádió in Gyöngyös and Manna FM in Budapest will be able to produce news programmes. Lakihegy Rádió in Szigetszentmiklós, Rádió 1 in Pécs, Nyíregyháza and Zalaegerszeg, Rádió 7 in Hódmezővásárhely, Gong FM in Kecskemét, Rábaköz Rádió FM94.5 in Kapuvár, Aktív Rádió 102.2 in Tiszakécske, Csillagpont Rádió in Miskolc, Rádió 88 in Szeged, Zemplén FM 104.9 and Tamási Rádió in Sátoraljaújhely submitted successful tenders in the category of service magazine programmes. The Magyar Katolikus Rádió in Székesfehérvár, Rádió Smile in Kiskunfélegyháza and 90.9 Jazzy Rádió in Budapest will be able to produce thematic magazines with the grant.

Decisions of the Media Council

The Media Council conducted a procedure on the basis of a request for balanced coverage, in which the applicant complained that neither the service provider of M1 nor that of MTI reported on the press conference held by the applicant. In its decision, the Media Council rejected the request, as the applicant did not complain about the failure of the publication of its contrary opinion on a specific piece of information, but rather about the news editing practices of the public media service provider, in which case no official intervention is possible. MTI's news agency activities may not be reviewed in a balanced coverage procedure.

The Council did not initiate proceedings on the basis of another complaint against MTI's activities as a news agency, as there was no violation of a provision falling within the competence of the authority.

Radio tenders

The Council announced the winners in the tender for the local frequencies of Tapolca 101.8 MHz and Veszprém 94.6 MHz: in both cases Katolikus Rádió Zrt. as the sole tenderer won. The service provider is awarded the right for the community use of the frequencies. The Council carried out the formal review of the tenders submitted for the tender notices for Sopron 104.6 MHz, and Komló 91.4 MHz and it conducted the content review of the tender offers submitted for the Szolnok 102.4 MHz frequency: it registered Katolikus Rádió Zrt. for the first two, and requested clarification from Best Radio Kft. in the later case. In each case, the service providers are the sole tenderers respectively. The council also finalised the call for tenders for the Szeged 87.9 MHz regional commercial radio facility.

At the request of the service provider, the Council approved of Karc FM Média Kft. to commence broadcasting at a later time than defined originally but until no later than 24 January at several of its frequencies.

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.