Television in Hungary

Audience shares of Hungarian TV channels, 2012

Television in Hungary was introduced in 1957. Transmission in colour was introduced to Hungarian television for the first time in 1971. Hungary had only one television channel until 1973. It was only in the mid 1990s when private and commercial broadcasting was introduced to Hungary.

Free-to-air television channels broadcasting in Hungary

Free-to-air on DVB-T

  • M1 HD
  • M2 HD / M2 Petőfi HD
  • M4 Sport HD
  • M5 HD
  • Duna HD
  • Duna World HD/M4 Sport+
  • RTL
  • TV2
  • Izaura TV
  • Max4
  • Dikh TV
  • Spektrum Home
  • plus Local channels

Free-to-air on analogue

Analogue broadcasting in Hungary was phased out in two phases that were completed on July 31 and October 31, 2013, respectively.[1] However, analogue broadcasting is still active as of August 2021 in the Balaton area, at least.

Free-to-air on satellite

  • M1
  • M2
  • Duna
  • Duna World
  • M4 Sport
  • M5
  • Galaxy4
  • Story4
  • TV4

Hungarian channels by groups

Duna Média (MTVA)

  • DUNA: 0-24: National main channel of Hungary, since March 15, 2015. Started in 1992. Available in HD.
  • M1: 0-24: News channel, since March 15, 2015. It was the national main channel before, started in 1957. Available in HD.
  • M2 / M2 Petőfi: 6-20: Kids channel since December 22, 2012, 20-6: Entertainment since March 15, 2015. Started in 1973. Available in HD.
  • M3: 0-24: Retro channel started in late 2013. closed in 2019, available only on internet as m3.hu Available in HD.
  • M4 Sport: 0-24: Sport channel started in 2015. Available in HD.
  • M4 Sport+ Sports channel, weekends on Duna World from 14h to 22h.
  • M5: 0-24: Started on August 6, 2016, as sport channel, (also called M5 Sport) because of the Rio Olympics 2016 and Rio Paralympics 2016, as cultural channel since September 18, 2016. (It was planned as a regional channel.) Available in HD.
  • Duna World: International channel of Hungary, since April 16, 2006. Available in HD.
  • M6: Planned as a regional channel. MTVA doesn't plan to launch it in the following years.
  • M3D: In the summer of 2012 it was the 3D channel of MTVA.
  • M4K: Planned as a 4K channel.

RTL Magyarország (RTL Group)

  • RTL: The most popular commercial channel in Hungary.
  • Cool, Film+, RTL Kettő, RTL Három, Sorozat+, RTL Gold, RTL Otthon, Kölyökklub, Sorozatklub, Moziklub: premium series' and films' channels
  • Muzsika TV: Hungarian music

Channels in bold are available in HD.

TV2 Group

  • TV2: One of main commercial channel in Hungary.
  • TV2 Séf, FEM3, Jocky TV, Moziverzum, TV2 Comedy, Izaura TV, TV2 Kids, PRIME, Mozi+, Super TV2, Spiler1 TV, Spiler2 TV: premium series', films' and sport channels
  • Zenebutik: Hungarian music

Channels in bold are available in HD.

National Channels

  • Duna: Main national channel, started broadcasting on 24 December 1992 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • Duna World: International channel, started broadcasting on 16 April 2006 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • M1: News channel since 15 March 2015, started broadcasting on 1 May 1957 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • M2: Kids channel between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm since 22 December 2012, M2 Petőfi between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am on 15 March 2015, started broadcasting in 7 November 1973 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • M3: Entertainment channel, started broadcasting on 20 December 2013, closed as a TV channel on 1 May 2019 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • M4 Sport: Sports channel, started broadcasting on 18 July 2015. (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • M4 Sport+: Sports channel, started broadcasting on weekends in place of Duna World between 2:00 pm and 10:00 pm on 12 September 2020.
  • M5: Cultural channel since 18 September 2016, started broadcasting as a sports channel from 5 August to 18 September 2016 (due to the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Free-to-air on DVB-T).

National commercial channels

  • TV2: Main channel, started broadcasting on 4 October 1997 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).
  • RTL: Main channel, started test broadcasting as RTL Klub on 7 October 1997 and officially on 27 October 1997 (Free-to-air on DVB-T).

National commercial premium channels

Cable channels

General and entertainment

News and politics

Sport

Movies

Series and telenovellas

Documentary

Animals

Travel and lifestyle

Culinary

Children & families

Music

Religion

  • EWTN/Bonum TV (catholic - Also available on DVB-T2)
  • PAX TV (catholic)
  • Heti TV (Jewish) (Also available on DVB-T2)

Regional

  • Csepp TV
  • Csaba TV
  • DSTV Hungary
  • Főnix TV
  • Gyula Televízió
  • Kölcsey TV
  • Keszthely TV
  • Pannon TV
  • Williams TV

Adult

HD TV-Channels

Planned

Defunct or renamed

Most viewed channels

Most viewed channels for 2022 are:[2]

Rank Channel Group Share of total viewing (%)
1 TV2 TV2 Group 11.5
2 RTL RTL Group 7.5
3 ATV ATV Group 3.2
4 Duna MTVA 3.0
5 M1
6 Mozi+ TV2 Group 2.7
7 M4 Sport MTVA
8 Izaura TV TV2 Group 2.4
9 Prime TV 2.3
10 Film+ RTL Group
11 Hir TV Hir TV 2.1
12 Super TV2 TV2 Group
13 Cool RTL Group
14 RTL Kettő 1.8
15 Comedy Central Paramount Networks 1.3
16 Sorozat+ RTL Group 1.2
17 Viasat 3 Antenna Group 1.1
18 TV4 Central
19 Story4
20 Galaxy4

Historical rankings

Channel Launched 2022[2] 2021[3] 2020[4] 2019[4] 2018[5]
2017[6]
2016
2015[7]
2014[8]
2013[9]
2012[10]
2011[11]
TV2 10/1997 11.5 11.2 11.0 10.3 10.22 10.72 10.77 12.50 14.05 13.6 15.8 18.6
RTL 10/1997 7.5 8.7 9.2 9.6 10.03 11.03 12.18 13.42 13.90 15.9 17.9 20.3
Duna 12/1992 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.5 3.98 5.48 6.13 5.54 3.23 2.3 1.9 1.8
M1 5/1957 3.0 2.8 3.1 2.8 2.93 3.39 3.32 4.04 7.65 8.4 9.2 7.9
Cool 9/2004 2.1 2.4 2.8 2.3 2.98 3.33 3.84 4.43 4.10 4.2 4.4 3.6
Film+ 9/2003 2.3 2.5 3.0 2.9 3.18 3.31 3.08 4.12 3.85 3.9 3.5 3.5
Viasat 3 10/2000 1.1 1.4 1.7 1.5 1.82 1.87 2.53 2.96 2.65 2.8 3.8 3.6

See also

References

  1. ^ "Hogyan készüljünk a digitális átállásra?".
  2. ^ a b The Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund 2022 report . mtva.hu, Retrieved 2024-01-25
  3. ^ "a 2010. évi CLXXXV. törvény és Közszolgálati Kódex előírásainak megvalósulásáról a Duna Médiaszolgáltató Nonprofit Zrt. műsoraiban 2021" (PDF).
  4. ^ a b A Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap 2020. évi beszámolója (English: The Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund 2020 report), mtva.hu, Retrieved 26 January 2024
  5. ^ "2018-as nézettség: a 71 legnézettebb magyar tévécsatorna". hu.crt-tv.com.
  6. ^ "2017-es nézettség: a 71 legnézettebb magyar tévécsatorna". hu.crt-tv.com.
  7. ^ "Csatornanézettség - 2015: A 49 legnézettebb hazai tévéadó". sorozatwiki.hu.
  8. ^ "Csatornanézettség - 2014: A 49 legnézettebb hazai tévéadó". sorozatwiki.hu. 22 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Csatornanézettség - 2013: A 49 legnézettebb hazai tévéadó". sorozatwiki.hu. 22 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Csatornanézettség - 2012: Az 50 legnézettebb hazai tévéadó". sorozatwiki.hu. 28 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Csatornanézettség - 2011: Az 50 legnézettebb hazai TV adó". sorozatwiki.hu. 11 March 2012.
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