TV2 fined millions for incorrect age rating

TV2 has been fined a total of nearly HUF 5 million by the Council for violating the provisions on the protection of minors.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw was aired at the end of December with an age rating of 12 instead of 16, and from 7 p.m. instead of the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. slot. In addition, the channel broadcast trailers of the programme 43 times in a time slot that did not correspond to the age category. The Bachelor was aired in the right time slot in December, but also with an age rating ‘not recommended for viewers under 12’ instead of under 16. In the former, violent scenes and obscene language, in the latter the use of sexuality and physicality as a tool, as a positive example to be followed, were problematic, as these could have a negative impact on the emerging values of the protected age group.

Radio decisions

The Council concluded that the Mátra Media Cultural Association, the sole tenderer, was the winner of the tender procedure for the use in principle of the small community radio media service facility in Gyöngyös.

On the initiative of the service providers, the Council renewed the rights of the media service providers of Trend FM Budapest 94.2 MHz and Klasszik Rádió Budapest 92.1 MHz for a period of seven years each. In order to prepare for the tender procedure, the Council requested the Media Authority to work out the frequency plan for the Budapest 90.3 MHz media service facility used by Tilos Radio, which was not renewed due to legal exclusion reasons.

Three out of four Hungarians now go online

The Authority has adopted a new study on the online media market and users for the fourth quarter of 2021, commissioned by the Digital Audience Measurement Council and carried out by Gemius Hungary. The research shows that more than three quarters of Hungarian residents aged 15 and over (77.65%) use the internet, which is more than 6.4 million people.

Magazines and news sites are the most popular – both with over five million visitors – but users spend nearly 5 minutes on the latter, compared to just 2 minutes on the former. Almost 100 percent of these are followed by people on their mobile phones. More people read magazines from their home PCs (85%) than news sites (75%), and more people access the latter from their work PCs (80%). News sites are more popular on weekdays with 3 million users compared to 2.8 million at the weekend, while magazines have around 2.6 million visitors every day of the week.

In the quarter under review, the most popular websites were 24.hu, origo.hu and blikk.hu, which reached 68.7%, 67.4% and 66.3% of users respectively. However, looking at the daily hits, it turns out that blikk.hu is the most visited website: with more than one million, or 15.5 percent of all internet users. On average, readers spend about 23 minutes on all three sites, but the most time is spent on index.hu: almost 1 hour. Men read the three most popular websites, while women read blikk.hu, 24.hu and femina.hu. The most popular websites among the 15-59 age groups are 24.hu and origo.hu, while among the 60+ age group, blikk.hu is ahead of 24.hu and origo.hu, which is in third place.

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 resolutions – the latest documents are published after the necessary certification and administration processes.