Hungarian Radio and Television

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.

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]

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: