Nearly HUF 145 million given for the operating costs of community radio and television
Twenty-three applicants will receive operating subsidies of around HUF 145 million, the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Media Authority) decided at its latest meeting. According to a study adopted by the Council, the national television channels with the largest reception area are almost fully compliant with mandatory accessibility. Due to repeated and serious violations by the provider of Tilos Radio, the law precludes the extension of the expiring media service licence of the radio channel.
Community media services receive support
The Media Council has awarded around HUF 145 million to 23 applicants in the second round of the tender to support the operating and running costs of community media service providers. Among the television channels, the following stations were successful at the tender: Irány TV in Ládbesenyő, Régió Plusz Television in Gödöllő, Sárrét TV in Püspökladány, Kék Kálló Television and Ladány Television, Trió-TV-Dunántúl in Sárvár, Magtv in Újhartyán, Tatai Television and District Television Tata, Hajdúnánási Television, Pannon Television in Pécs, Völgyhíd Tv in Biatorbágy, Gólya TV in Bercel, RTV Szekszárd and EWTN Bonum in Budapest. Among the community radio stations, the non-repayable funds will go to Europa Radio in Sátoraljaújhely, Nyíregyháza, Debrecen and Miskolc, as well as Trend FM in Budapest. Among the small community radio stations, Rádió Törökszentmiklós, Rádió Smile in Kiskunfélegyháza and Mustár radio in Nyíregyháza will receive support.
99.9 per cent accessibility rate for television in the previous half year
The Media Council has adopted and published on its website the latest study on accessibility in television. The Media Authority examined how and in what proportion the six national public service television channels and the two major commercial television channels and Hír TV helped their viewers with impaired hearing in the second half of 2021. In the nearly 5,200 hours surveyed, around 85 percent of programmes were accessible – 88.4 percent for public service television channels and 78 percent for commercial television channels. Providers met 99.9% of the mandatory accessibility requirements set out in the Media Act in terms of transmission time, such as for news, sports programme and weather reports, but there were still some mispronunciations, inappropriate expressions and lack of punctuation.
Media Supervisory Decisions
The Media Council also examined the compliance of television broadcasters with the data provision requirements for the second half of 2021: a total of four channel operators failed to comply with the legal obligation. Fines ranging from a few tens of thousands to more than HUF 800,000 were imposed by the Council. It also checked compliance with the data provision obligations of on-demand services: as a result of the investigation for the 2021 period, it imposed a HUF 65 thousand fine on the service provider of FILMIO.
The Council is initiating proceedings against the provider of Rádió 1 because of the possibility that a December broadcast of the programme titled ‘Balázsék’ may have been broadcast with an inappropriate age rating and in an inappropriate time slot, taking into account the parts of conversation in the programme which had an adverse effect on the personality development of the protected age group: instead of an age rating of 16, the programme was aired with a rating of ‘not recommended for viewers under 12’ and was broadcast from 6 a.m. instead of between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The media service licence of Tilos Rádió cannot be renewed
The Council will not renew the community media service licence of Tilos Cultural Foundation for Budapest 90.3 MHz, having a regional reception area, which expires in September, as the possibility of renewal is excluded in case of repeated or serious infringements, in accordance with the provisions of the law. The Media Council found that the media service provider of Tilos Rádió had violated the legal provisions on the age rating and broadcasting time of programmes on four occasions during the period of its licence starting in 2015, of which one case was considered a repeated and serious infringement. In addition, the Media Council found that the media service provider committed repeated infringements in 4 other cases during the period of the license, as there were two breaches of the monthly data provision obligation on programme quotas and two breaches of the annual reporting obligation. The Media Council's intention is to launch a tender for the use of the frequency concerned as soon as possible in order to ensure the continued use of the media service facility.
The full agenda of the Media Council's weekly meetings can be found on the Council’s website, as can the Minutes of the meetings and all decisions and resolutions – the most recent of which will be made public after the necessary authentication and administrative lead time.