- published: 20 Jul 2009
- views: 36953
Magyar Televízió (or Hungarian Television) is the Hungarian national public service television company, with three TV channels, called m1 (m1 HD), m2 (m2 HD) and m3.
Until July 2002, when the Hungarian Socialist Party-Alliance of Free Democrats government took over the payment of licence fees from members of the public, MTV was funded by the levying of a television licence on all households with a television set. As a result of the governments move, funding became dependent on from government grants and television commercials, greatly lessening the independence of MTV. MTV is a member of the EBU. Since 2011 MTV is more closely integrated with other publicly funded Hungarian media outlets such as Magyar Rádió and Duna Televízió.
First pioneer transmissions were in Hotel Gellért in 1936. Test transmissions commenced in 1954, however these were generally with stills or short clips of motion pictures, merely for experimental purposes. Regular test transmissions could be received from February 23, 1957. Transmissions began officially on 1 May 1957, when the May Day ceremonies were brought to the viewers for the first time. Daily news programmes began on July 2, 1957. The television service began its career as part of Hungarian Radio, which was renamed "Hungarian Radio and Television" on August 18, 1957. MTV suggested the establishment of an international organisation for exchanging television material, which was to be named Intervision. The first four members of the organisation were Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary and Poland.