Hungarian public broadcaster MTVA saves nearly 7 billion forints in first two weeks

The interim management of Hungary’s public media organisation MTVA, which took over on 7 July, reported almost 7 billion forints of savings in its first 14 days. The reduction stems chiefly from terminating contracts worth about 3 billion forints that were judged wasteful or non‑essential, and from renegotiating major sport‑broadcast deals – the licence for NB I football matches was extended for a year at a price 4 billion forints lower than the previous agreement.

A comprehensive review of high‑value production and IT contracts has also begun, alongside a separate investigation of contracts with politically connected economic actors. Where investigations confirm contracts were not justified by their economic content, MTVA said it will take legal action. Audience figures have risen substantially, with the combined daily reach of MTVA channels up 49 % and prime‑time viewership up 61 % compared with the same period last year. The service has also increased Hungarian film and archival programming, returning about 30 hours of domestic content per day.

Overall, the new leadership is focused on ending propaganda, restoring independent and objective news delivery, and restructuring the broadcaster in line with forthcoming media‑law reforms.