(excerpts)
19. Public service program: a program which serves the informational, cultural, civic and lifestyle needs of the (national, regional, local) listeners and viewers who live in the reception area of the broadcaster, thus in particular:
a) artistic works or information on universal culture, Hungarian culture and the culture of the national and ethnic minorities in Hungary, the life of such national and ethnic minorities, and their viewpoints,
34. Not-for-profit broadcaster: a broadcaster which agrees to serve the cultural aims of national, ethnic or other minorities and to serve a disadvantaged group, or intends to serve as a public affairs forum for a community, provided that it applies the profits generated by such broadcasting, as recorded separately, exclusively for the continuation and development of such broadcasting.
(2) Broadcasters shall respect the constitutional order of the Republic of Hungary. Their activities may not violate human rights and may not be suitable for inciting hatred against individuals, genders, peoples, nations, or national, ethnic, linguistic and other minorities, or any church or religious groups.
(3) Broadcasting may not aim, openly or covertly, at insulting or excluding any minority or majority group, or at presenting and discriminating against such on the basis of racial considerations.
Article 2
Basic Principles and Regulations on Public Service Broadcasting and Public Broadcasting
Section 23
(1) Public service broadcasters, and public broadcasters in particular, shall respect the dignity and essential interests of the nation and of national, ethnic, linguistic and other minorities, and may not offend the dignity of other nations.
(2) On a regular basis public service broadcasters and public broadcasters shall provide information on domestic and foreign events which interest the public, on events with a significant impact on the lives of the population in the reception area, on interconnections, disputed issues, and the characteristic opinions formed regarding such events, including different opinions, in a comprehensive, objective, authentic and accurate manner. In the course of fulfilling these responsibilities, they shall provide for announcements or news briefs which are in the public interest and are not specified in Section 137.
(3) Public service broadcasters and public broadcasters shall ensure multi-faceted programs and views, and the presentation of the viewpoints of minorities, and through the variety of programs shall attend to satisfying the needs of a wide range of viewers, and as many groups as possible, at a high standard of quality.
(4) Public service broadcasters and public broadcasters shall pay special attention to the following:
a) fostering the values of universal and national cultural heritage, ensuring presentation of various aspects of culture,
b) showing programs promoting the physical, mental and moral development and interests of minors, and enriching their knowledge,
c) presenting religious and church values, and the values of national, ethnic and other minority cultures,
d) providing important information for groups in a seriously disadvantaged or underprivileged position due to their age, physical, mental and psychological state or social circumstances, with special consideration of the presentation of information on children's rights and related services during prime-time broadcasting,
e) presenting programs on the social, economic and cultural life of the various parts of the country.
Section 24
(1) For public service broadcasters and public broadcasters, the duration of advertising may not exceed six minutes in any single hour of programming, calculated in any way. The duration of advertising may not exceed five minutes per hour calculated for the average of day-time broadcasting.
(2) Display of screen texts containing advertising, other than screen texts shown outside of broadcasting hours, shall also be included in the duration of advertising.
(3) Advertising may only be broadcast between programs in public service broadcasting and in public broadcasting, and between the individual parts of the program in multiple-part programs. In sports and other broadcasts in which there are natural breaks, advertising may be broadcast between the parts and in the breaks.
(4) Public service broadcasters and public broadcasters may not advertise alcoholic beverages in their broadcasts. The programs of public service broadcasters and public broadcasters may not be sponsored by parties whose main activity is the manufacture and distribution of alcoholic beverages.
(5) Regardless of their work-related contractual relationship, internal and external staff appearing on a regular basis in public service broadcasting and public broadcasting may not appear in pictures or sound in advertising or political advertising by a broadcaster.
(6) Programs presenting gratuitous violence as an example of conduct to be followed, or presenting sex for its own sake may not be broadcast.
Section 25
Only the following programs may be sponsored in public service broadcasting and public broadcasting:
a) programs with religious and church contents,
b) programs presenting or broadcasting artistic and cultural events,
c) programs presented in the native languages of national and ethnic minorities, and presenting the life and culture of national and ethnic minorities,
d) programs for groups in a seriously disadvantaged position due to their age, physical, moral and psychological state or social circumstances.
Section 26
(1) Public service broadcasters shall foster the culture and native languages of national and ethnic minorities living in Hungary, and provide information in the native languages of such groups on a regular basis. This responsibility shall be fulfilled through national broadcasting or, with regard to the geographical location of the minority, through regional or local broadcasting, by broadcasting programs satisfying the needs of the minority, by providing subtitles in television programming as required, or by multi-lingual broadcasting. The duration of national minority programs on a national or regional aggregate for each national minority may not be less than at the date when this Act enters into force.
(2) The national self government bodies of national and ethnic minorities, or in the absence thereof, national organizations of the above, shall decide independently upon the principles of utilizing the broadcasting time made available for such groups by public service broadcasters. Public service broadcasters shall take into account the decisions of such bodies, but these decisions may not affect the contents of the program and the editing of broadcasts.
Section 29
(1) Public service broadcasters shall prepare and apply public service broadcasting regulations, and public broadcasters shall prepare and apply of broadcasting regulations.
(2) The following shall be regulated in the public service broadcasting and broadcasting regulations:
a) the guarantees for independence from parties and political movements,
b) the principles for the presentation of multi-faceted, objective and balanced news and current political broadcasts, and disputed issues, and the presentation of multi-faceted opinions and views,
c) the professional requirements for fostering culture in the native language,
d) the method of presenting the culture and life of the national and ethnic minorities living in Hungary, with due regard to the provisions contained in Subsection (2) of Section 26 of this Act as well,
Section 56
(1) The following organizations shall delegate twenty-one members to the board of trustees of the Hungarian Radio Public Foundation and twenty-one members to the board of trustees of the Hungarian Television Public Foundation:
a) the national self-governments of the national and ethnic minorities living in Hungary, in the absence of these, the national organizations of such, one person;
(2) The following organizations shall delegate twenty-three members to the board of trustees of Hungaria Television Public Foundation:
a) the national self-governments of the national and ethnic minorities living in Hungary, in the absence of these, the national organizations of such, one person;
General Provisions
Section 85
(1) Natural persons residing in Hungary and legal entities or unincorporated business associations registered in the Republic of Hungary are entitled to conduct broadcasting in Hungary.
(2) The shares of broadcasters operating in the form of a company limited by shares may only be registered shares.
(3) Television broadcasters with a national or regional reception area and radio broadcasters with a national reception area may operate as companies limited by shares, or in the form of not-for-profit companies owned solely by local and regional governments, or the self-governments of national and ethnic minorities.
Title 4
Invitation to Tender
Section 95
(1) The provisions defined in Sections 93-94 shall duly apply to the draft and publication of the invitation to tender and to the public hearing.
(2) In respect of the broadcasting possibilities, the invitation to tender shall contain the details listed in Subsection (4) of Section 52, as well as the obligatory contents of the bid, and the evaluation points set forth in Paragraphs e), f), g) and i) of Subsection (1) of Section 96 of this Act in numerical terms.
(3) The conditions of the invitation to tender may differ from the general tender conditions only if such difference is provided for by law or the general tender conditions. The general tender conditions shall represent an integral part of the invitation to tender.
(4) The tender shall be invited in such a manner that the following period of time is available
a) at least sixty days, for the submission of bids relating to national broadcasting,
b) at least forty days, for the submission of bids relating to regional broadcasting,
c) at least thirty days, for the submission of bids relating to local broadcasting.
(5) The Board may stipulate as a tender condition that the needs of national and ethnic and other minorities be served with a fixed ratio of public service programs or amount of service if, taking into account all of the broadcasting, the freedom of information and presentation of the multi-faceted nature of culture are not ensured in the reception area in question. If, in respect of information in their native language, the needs of the national and ethnic minorities cannot otherwise be satisfied in the reception area set forth in the invitation to tender, the Board shall, without inviting a tender, authorize a non-profit company owned exclusively by the self-government of a national and ethnic minority, as a not-for-profit oriented broadcaster, to broadcast for at least four and at most eight hours of broadcasting per week, in the interests of enforcing the rights of the national and ethnic minorities, as defined in another Act.
Bid Contents
Section 96 (1) Bids shall contain:
a) details of the bidder:
- name,
- address (registered office or business premises),
- company registration or court registration number,
b) name and address of a person with no prior criminal record who assumes personal responsibility, as required by the press law and this Act, for the activities of the broadcaster,
c) if the bidder is a business association, its articles of association or deed of foundation, together with any amendments thereunto,
d) a statement by the bidder on the size of its direct or indirect ownership share in business associations publishing Hungarian daily newspapers or weeklies, distributing newspapers, performing broadcasting in Hungary or applying for broadcasting rights in Hungary,
e) basic details of the planned broadcasting:
- type (radio, television),
- area of reception,
- the broadcast method to be employed,
- broadcasting hours, schedule of broadcasting hours,
- planned supplementary and value added broadcasting services,
- permanent name, emblem and sign of broadcasting,
f) the planned program structure, average monthly broadcasting hours planned for broadcasting public service programs, the broadcasting hours planned for regular daily news, monthly average broadcasting hours for serving the needs of national and ethnic or other minorities.