Hungarian Radio and Television (, abbreviated MRTV) 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. The amendment was enacted on 27 June, with 90 days allotted for the establishment of the new broadcaster.
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.
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 current affairs Petőfi Rádió: Hungarian pop music and youth programming Bartók Rádió: Classical music : Folk, operetta and pop-folk : broadcasts programmes aimed at ethnic minorities in Hungary Parlamenti Rádió: Parliamentary broadcasts and political events : jazz music Nemzeti Sportrádió: sport programmes and broadcasts : 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 : channel for young people M4 Sport: Sports channel established in July 2015 : 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.
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