TV2 (Hungarian TV channel)

TV2

Country	Hungary
Broadcast area	Hungary, Romania
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungary
Programming
Picture format	1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	TV2 Group (József Vida)
Sister channels	FEM3, Mozi+, Super TV2, Spíler 1 TV, Spíler 2 TV, Izaura TV, Zenebutik, PRIME, TV2 Séf, TV2 Kids, TV2 Comedy, Jocky TV, Moziverzum
History
Launched	4 October 1997
Links
Website	tv2.hu
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial television	Channel 11
Cable
UPC Romania	Channel 753 (digital with DVR) Channel 186 (digital)

TV2 is a Hungarian free-to-air television channel operating since 4 October 1997, providing a large variety of programming. It was owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE until early 2014 when it was sold to two investors and then to Andrew G. Vajna in 2015. Vajna died on 20 January 2019, and then the whole group was sold to József Vida on June 2019. It is rivaling with RTL Klub for the first place in Hungarian television ratings. Among its most popular self-produced shows were Megasztár ("Mega Star", an adaptation of Pop Idol), and the daily prime time soap Jóban Rosszban, and US shows like Desperate Housewives, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Numb3rs, Heroes, Smallville, House M.D., Ghost Whisperer and Lipstick Jungle. TV2 is aired throughout Hungary.

Its parent company, the TV2 Group, which was formed in 2013 replacing MTM-SBS, operates a portfolio which includes TV2 and its 14 sister channels. The sister channels are Super TV2, FEM3, Mozi+, Zenebutik, Izaura TV, Spíler 1 TV, Spíler 2 TV, PRIME, TV2 Séf, TV2 Kids, TV2 Comedy, Jocky TV and Moziverzum. TV2 also operated Irisz TV, which timeshared with Chellomedia's Zone Club and was broadcast at primetime between 13 September 2004 and New Year's Eve 2006, and PRO4, which was launched on 3 January 2011, and was replaced by Mozi+ on 11 July 2016.

TV2 was one of the channels that was carried on the national analogue terrestrial service, along with M1, RTL Klub and the local channels, but those transmitters were shut down on 2 zones, on 31 July and 31 October 2013 respectively.

Programming

Current programming

Series

Shows

Former programming

Criticism and controversy

Takeover by Andy Vajna and relationship with government

Since 2015, the station has been a considered a mouthpiece for the Fidesz-KDNP coalition government. After the station was sold by ProSiebenSat.1 Media to the station's then managing directors, Zsolt Simon and Yvonne Dederick, with a loan of 25 million forints to pay the station's debts, opposition media began comenting that Károly Fonyó, the owner of a company associated with Lajos Simicska (a former pro-Fidesz media mogul who, by then, was critical of the government's plan to impose an advertising tax to competitor RTL Klub, resulting on a long-term dispute), was attempting to buy the station from both managing directors, in exchange of the payment of the aforementioned 25 million forints. As a result, Simon and Dederick began reorganising parent company MTM-SBS Kft., with both managers creating their respective holding companies, namely D6D Kft. and CCA Vízió Kft., and later making a joint venture to manage the TV2 channels. This joint venture later evolved into the current TV2 Média Csoport Kft., established by the merger of both holding companies in the summer of 2014.^[1]

At the same time, Andy Vajna, with the assistance of President Viktor Orbán, began negotiating with Simon and Dederick for the acquisition of the TV2 Média Csoport holding company. This led to a high-stakes acquisition process which eventually became sided in favour of Vajna. On October 13, 2015, Fonyó submitted its bid for the TV2 group of channels, which was quickly followed by Vajna's bid for the broadcaster, to which Simon and Dederick would succumb almost immediately. Vajna quickly dismissed both executives, being replaced by the former managing director of RTL Klub, Dirk Gerkens (dismissed from the channel after the heavy controversy caused by the aforementioned ad tax proposal). The editorial team of the Tények newscast was also fully replaced, with Vivien Szalai, the former editor in chief of the tabloid and pro-government Story news magazine, becoming the chief news director.^[2]

After the Vajna takeover, the TV2 group of channels rapidly grew, from only four channels, to 13 channels. Most of these channels launched within three months, causing scepticism from many media insiders, even declaring that this massive rollout "would completely reshape the Hungarian media market".^[3] Most of these new channels became focused on niche genres, with a focus on local productions, for example, gastronomy and Hungarian cuisine, movies, music, lifestyle and even cartoons.

References

External links

• Official Site (in Hungarian)