Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap
Hungarian public broadcasting media organization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap (MTVA) (lit. 'Media Services and Support Trust Fund') was a Hungarian fund company owned and financed by the Hungarian state, through the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH). MTVA was established on 1 January 2011, and from July 2015 the company's main task has been to finance and operate Duna Média, Hungary's state public company. It was an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
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 MTVA headquarters in Budapest (2021) | |
| Type | State-owned corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1 January 2011 |
| Defunct | 26 July 2026 |
| Successor | |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Hungary |
| Services | Television, radio, online |
| Owner | Government of Hungary |
| Website | mtva |
MTVA dissolved on 26 July 2026 after a bill proposing the restructuring of Hungary's public service broadcasters was approved by the National Assembly of Hungary. MTVA and Duna Média were replaced by the newly established Magyar Rádió és Televízió (lit. 'Hungarian Radio and Television') and the reinstated Magyar Távirati Iroda (lit. 'Hungarian Telegraph Office').
History
Background
MTVA brought together four public media companies in Hungary: Magyar Rádió (MR), Magyar Televízió (MTV), Duna Televízió (Duna TV) and Magyar Távirati Iroda (MTI). At the same time, MTI was given the exclusive right to produce news content for the public broadcasters.[1][2][3] According to Hungarian politicians, the establishment of MTVA helped clean up the country's "dysfunctional public broadcasting sector". However, the media reform received criticism from foreign politicians and media experts, who believed the reform limited the independence of broadcasters and gave the government greater control over the country's public broadcasters.[4]
The four broadcasters continued as four divisions under MTVA, but were merged into a one-joint broadcasting company named Duna Média on 1 July 2015. This nonprofit organization was the legal successor to each of the four formerly separate entities managed by the MTVA.[5] The Duna TV channel become the main generalist channel, replacing the first Magyar Televízió channel M1, the oldest in Hungary, which changed its format/genre and assumed continuous broadcast of news related programming.[6]
Among other things, MTVA was responsible for distributing funds and resources to the various departments in Duna Média. Most employees of Duna Média were also employed through MTVA. According to the National Assembly, MTVA aimed to have a relationship with its British counterpart, BBC.[7]
Criticism
A 2019 report by the European Federation of Journalists stated that news coverage of the Hungarian public broadcaster was not balanced, opposition politicians' viewpoints were nearly absent from the reports, and there was a lack of transparency over the funding and work of MTVA. The report concluded that the "public service media have been deformed into state media."[8][unreliable source?] Moreover, MTVA withdrew its participation from the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest amid a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA; while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website Index.hu speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate.[9]
Dissolution
Following the Tisza Party winning a landslide victory in the 2026 parliamentary election, Péter Magyar became the Prime Minister of Hungary, ending Fidesz's 16-year period under Viktor Orbán. According to a report by Reporters Without Borders,[10] where Hungary had ranked 74th out of 180 countries in their 2026 index, MTVA had become a "propaganda machine" as a result of "political and economic manoeuvres and the buyout of media outlets by oligarchs with close ties to Fidesz", which gave Orbán's party an estimated 80% control of Hungary's entire media landscape.[11] While prime minister-elect, Magyar criticised MTVA and its leadership. He stated that he would shut down MTVA and reform Hungary's public broadcasting system, liking it to "North Korean-style propaganda" during a live on-air interview on the channel's news programme, M1, which was also his first appearance on the national broadcaster in 18 months.[12]
On 5 June 2026, Dániel Papp, the chief executive and director of MTVA, announced his resignation from the broadcaster, citing the government's plans to restructure the broadcaster as his reasons for leaving.[13]
On 12 June 2026, three TISZA MPs submitted a bill to the Hungarian 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.[14] The bill reformed the structure of Hungary's public service broadcaster by replacing MTVA and Duna Média with two new organisations, which includes the creation of the Hungarian Television and Radio broadcaster (Magyar Rádió és Televízió), as well as the reinstatement of MTI as an independent entity.[15]
The Independent Public Media Council was established to oversee the system and the Press Fund was set up to support independent journalism through grants.[16][17] Hungarian Television and Radio had previously operated under a single institutional framework from 1957 until its dissolution in 1974, after which the radio and television broadcasters ran as independent organisations until the creation of Duna Média in June 2015.
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.[18] The amendment was enacted on 27 June.[19]
As the successor to both MTVA and Duna Média, the new Hungarian Television and Radio broadcaster is responsible for public-service radio, television, audiovisual, digital and programme production activities. As the national news agency, MTI's role within the new public service media system includes providing news reports, written and video coverage, photographs, background materials, graphics and documentary data on domestic and international events, and operates on a separate budget structure.[20][21]
Services
Its activities included radio, television, news agencies and online services as listed below:
Radio
- Kossuth Rádió: News and current affairs
- Petőfi Rádió: Pop music and youth programming
- Bartók Rádió: Classical and jazz music
- Dankó Rádió: Folk, operetta and pop-folk
- Nemzetiségi Rádió: broadcasts programs aimed at ethnic minorities in Hungary
- Parlamenti Rádió: Parliamentary broadcasts and political events
- Szakcsi Rádió: jazz music
- Nemzeti Sportrádió: sport programs and broadcasts
- Csukás Meserádió: kids programs
- Régió Rádió: Regional programs from Debrecen, Győr, Miskolc, Pécs and Szeged. The radio closed down on 22 December 2012.
- Dalok és Dallamok: Folk, operetta, pop-folk. The radio closed down on 22 December 2012.
- Árvízvédelmi Rádió: Temporary radio set up due to the 2013 European floods.
- Duna World Rádió: broadcasts, news and Hungarian programs to Hungarians abroad. The radio closed down on 13 June 2024.
Television
- Duna: Duna Media's main generalist channel for television.
- Duna World: international channel which caters to Hungarians abroad
- M1: broadcasts news, debates and current affairs programming.
- 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
- M3: broadcasts, movies and historical programs, taken from the archives of Magyar Televízió and Duna TV. As a TV channel, it closed down on 30 April 2019 and launched as an online service the following day.
- M3D: The first 3D television channel between 25 June 2012 and 13 August.
- MTVA Info: News channel about the digital television transition between 4 April 2013 and 31 January 2014.
- M4K: A channel which was announced but never launched. It would have broadcast Ultra HD programs.
- M6: A channel which was announced but never launched. The channel was planned as a regional channel of Budapest.
News agency
- Magyar Távirati Iroda – Hungarian state information and press agency established in 1881.
Internet
- Hirado.hu – A popular news portal related to the news program of the same name
- Mediaklikk.hu – Official MTVA website
- M4sport.hu – Official site of M4 Sport
- Petofilive.hu – Official site of Petőfi Rádió and M2 Petőfi
- Teletext.hu – Teletext service
Controversies
In 2011, MTVA's news editor Dániel Papp manipulated a news segment about politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit to make it look like he fled the scene without an answer after being questioned on accusations of child abuse. Subsequently, uncut footage showed that Cohn-Bendit replied to the reporter's questions and denied the accusations. Papp was later promoted.[22] In the same year, Zoltán Lomnici, the former president of the Supreme Court was blurred out from a report about a press conference he was co-hosting. The censoring of Lomnici was suggested to be politically motivated.[23][24]
In 2019, a leaked audio recording made during the run-up to European Parliament elections showed a senior MTVA editor, Balázs Bende, informing reporters that the institution does not favor the opposition's list and the reporters should work accordingly. Bende instructed the reporters to produce content using the "appropriate" narrative and methodology, especially on topics like Brussels and migrants.[25][26]
