Hungarian Radio and Television

Hungarian Radio and Television
Native name
Magyar Rádió és Televízió Nonprofit Zrt.
TypePublic service broadcaster
IndustryMass media
Predecessor
Founded25 October 2026 (2026-10-25)
Headquarters
Budapest
,
Hungary
Area served
Hungary
ServicesTelevision, radio, online
OwnerGovernment of Hungary

Hungarian Radio and Television[a] (Hungarian: Magyar Rádió és Televízió) will be the new public service broadcaster of Hungary, which is set to launch in 2026 following a bill that passed in the National Assembly on 23 June 2026.[1] It will be publicly funded through an Independent Public Media Council and a new Press Fund that will support independent journalism through grants.

Background

Hungary's first radio broadcaster, Magyar Rádió (MR), was launched on 1 December 1925, meanwhile their first television broadcaster, Magyar Televízió (MTV), was established on 22 February 1957. In 1960, MTV was one of the four founding members of the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), which was an East European network of radio and television broadcasters until it was dissolved on 1 January 1993.

Between 1957 and 1974, MR and MTV co-existed as part of the Hungarian Radio and Television (Magyar Rádió és Televízió), which coincidentally shares the same name as the broadcaster set to launch this year. However, the two broadcasters later split into independent organisations and operated separately until 2010. In 2011, MTVA was set up to finance and operate four public media companies in Hungary: Magyar Rádió (MR), Magyar Televízió (MTV), Duna Televízió (Duna TV) and Magyar Távirati Iroda (MTI). In June 2015, the Duna Media Service was established following a merger of Magyar Rádió, Magyar Televízió and Duna Televízió by the Third Orbán Government.

In 1993, MR and MTV became full members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), following the dissolution of OIRT. In 2011, MTVA joined the EBU taking the place of MR and MTV within the organisation after its launch the same year. In 2013, Duna TV joined as a member until the creation of Duna Média in 2015, where they joined the EBU the same year.

History

Following the Tisza Party's landslide victory in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election, Péter Magyar became the Prime Minister of Hungary, ending Fidesz's 16-year rule under Viktor Orbán. Magyar had previously criticised MTVA and its leadership, likening it to "North Korean-style propaganda" during a live on-air interview on the channel's news programme, M1, which marked his first appearance on the national broadcaster in 18 months. He added that he would shut down MTVA and reform Hungary's public broadcasting system.[2]

On 12 June 2026, three Tisza MPs submitted a bill to the Parliament "on the complete transformation of public media", which would amend the Act on Media Services and Mass Communication, which passed in late 2010 to create MTVA under the Second Orbán Government.[3] The bill is set to reform the structure of Hungary's public service broadcaster by dissolving MTVA and Duna Média, and replacing them with two new organisations, which includes the creation of Hungarian Radio and Television, as well as the reinstatement of MTI as an independent entity.[4][5] This would also include the setup of an Independent Public Media Council to oversee the system and a new Press Fund to support independent journalism through grants.[6]

On 23 June 2026, the bill passed with 145 votes in favour and 39 against, with new executives for both organisations set to be selected through open competitions instead of direct appointments.[1] The amendment was enacted on 27 June, with 90 days allotted for the establishment of the new broadcaster.[7][8]

As the soon-to-be successor to both MTVA and Duna Média, the new broadcaster would be responsible for public-service radio, television, audiovisual, digital and programme production activities, with MTI taking on the responsibility of providing news reports as Hungary's national news agency, and will operate on a separate budget structure.[9][10]

Eurovision Song Contest

MTV had previously represented Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest from its debut in 1994 up to 2009, with MTVA taking over from 2011 to 2019. MTVA had not taken part since the later-cancelled 2020 contest;[11][12][13] while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website Index speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate, amidst a rise of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA.[14] A Dal, the national final organised by MTVA to select its entry for the contest from 2012 to 2019, had continued to be organised independently of Eurovision since.

At a forum in Győr in August 2025, when asked about Hungary's absence from the contest, Magyar stated that if his party were able to form a government after the 2026 elections, he would consider initiating the country's return to the event.[15][16][17] In May 2026, over a month after the elections, Magyar revealed during an interview on Austrian broadcaster ORF's news program Zeit im Bild that he had instructed the Minister or State Secretary for Culture to examine the possibility of a return.[18]

Services

Its activities include radio, television, news agencies and online services as listed below, which will be run by Hungarian Radio and Television after MTVA closes later this year:

Radio

  • Kossuth Rádió: News and entertainment
  • Petőfi Rádió: Pop music and youth programming
  • Bartók Rádió: Classical music
  • Dankó Rádió: Folk, operetta and pop-folk
  • Nemzetiségi Rádió: broadcasts programmes aimed at ethnic minorities in Hungary
  • Parlamenti Rádió: Parliamentary broadcasts and political events
  • Szakcsi Rádió: jazz music
  • Nemzeti Sportrádió: sport programmes and broadcasts
  • Csukás Meserádió: kids programmes

Television

  • Duna: Hungarian Radio and Television's main generalist channel for television.
  • Duna World: international channel which caters to Hungarians abroad
  • M1: movies, series and news programmings
  • M2: children channel
  • M2 Petőfi: channel for young people
  • M4 Sport: Sports channel established in July 2015
  • M4 Sport+: Sports channel established in September 2020 which caters to Hungarians abroad
  • M5: culture and educational programming

Internet

  • Hirado.hu – A popular news portal related to the news programme of the same name
  • Mediaklikk.hu – Official website
  • M4sport.hu – Official site of M4 Sport
  • Petofilive.hu – Official site of Petőfi Rádió and M2 Petőfi
  • Teletext.hu – Teletext service
  • M3: broadcasts movies and historical programmes, taken from the archives of Magyar Televízió and Duna TV. It has operated as an online service since the TV channel closed down on 30 April 2019.

Notes

  1. ↑ Officially known as Hungarian Radio and Television Nonprofit Ltd. (Magyar Rádió és Televízió Nonprofit Zrt.)

References

  1. 1 2 Bicsérdi-Fülöp, Ádám (23 June 2026). "Hungarian Parliament adopts media law, effectively abolishing current public media". Telex.hu.
  2. ↑ Zsiros, Sandor (15 April 2026). "Magyar vows to shut down Hungarian state TV accusing it of 'North Korean' propaganda". Euronews.
  3. ↑ Chastand, Jean-Baptiste (17 June 2026). "Hungarian media landscape upended after Viktor Orban's fall from power". Le Monde.
  4. ↑ ""2026. évi XXI. törvény a médiaszolgáltatásokról és a tömegkommunikációról szóló 2010. évi CLXXXV. törvény, valamint az Országgyűlésről szóló 2012. évi XXXVI. törvény módosításáról"" ["Act XXI of 2026 on the amendment of Act CLXXXV of 2010 on Media Services and Mass Communication and Act XXXVI of 2012 on the Parliament"]. Nemzeti Jogszabálytár (in Hungarian). 27 June 2026.
  5. ↑ Farren, Neil (3 July 2026). "Hungary: Hungarian Government Votes to Dissolve MTVA". Eurovoix.
  6. ↑ "Vége az MTVA-nak, a teljes közmédia átalakul: jön a Sajtóalap és a Független Közmédia Testület" [The end of MTVA, the entire public media is being transformed: the Press Fund and the Independent Public Media Board are coming]. 444.hu (in Hungarian).
  7. ↑ "MAGYAR KÖZLÖNY • 2026. évi 80. szám". Magyarkozlony.hu (in Hungarian). 26 June 2026. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Sajó, David (22 July 2026). "Két hét alatt közel 7 milliárdot spórolt meg a közmédia új vezetése" [The new management of the public media saved nearly 7 billion in two weeks]. Telex.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Parliament approves sweeping public broadcasting reform". The Budapest Times. 23 June 2026.
  10. ↑ Szalay, Zoltan (3 July 2026). "For Hungary, it is an earthquake: public-service media will not be one-sided, Orbán's Fidesz empire is falling apart". EUobserver.
  11. ↑ Herbert, Emily (13 November 2019). "41 Countries Will Participate in The Eurovision Song Contest 2020". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  12. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (11 October 2021). "Despite the rumours, no mention of Eurovision in the rules of Hungary's A Dal 2022!". ESCBubble. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "REVEALED: the 41 countries joining Eurovision in Turin 2022". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  14. ↑ Walker, Shaun; Garamvolgyi, Flora (27 November 2019). "Hungary pulls out of Eurovision amid rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric". The Guardian.
  15. ↑ Ignatiuk, Szymon (23 August 2025). "Lider opozycji na 🇭🇺 Węgrzech zapewnia, że kraj wróci na Eurowizję jeśli jego partia wygra wybory". ESCSpot (in Polish). Retrieved 12 April 2026.
  16. ↑ Higgins, Andrew; Rutai, Lili (12 April 2026). "Hungary Election Results: Viktor Orban Concedes Defeat and Congratulates Peter Magyar". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
  17. ↑ Mundo, El (13 April 2026). "Magyar, the politician demanding Hungary's return to the Eurovision Festival to recover the values crushed by Orban". ELMUNDOAMERICA. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
  18. ↑ Farren, Neil (22 May 2026). "Hungary: Prime Minister to Instruct Minister or State Secretary for Culture to Examine Possible Eurovision Return". Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
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