Hungary

[HU] Media Council fines public and private broadcasters for breaching advertising rules

IRIS 2026-3:1/18

Kinga Sorbán

University of Public Service

In late January 2026, the Media Council of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Nemzeti Média és Hírközlési Hatóság - NMHH) issued several decisions regarding non-compliance with advertising regulations by both private and public service media providers. The administrative body penalised ATV Zrt., Hír TV Zrt., and the public service broadcaster Duna Médiaszolgáltató Nonprofit Zrt. for various violations, ranging from surreptitious commercial communication to the volume of advertisements.

As part of its supervisory activities, the NMHH conducted a monitoring exercise for the third quarter of 2025 which revealed that the public service broadcaster, Duna Médiaszolgáltató Nonprofit Zrt., violated advertising volume regulations a total of 15 times across its M1, M4 Sport, and M5 channels. These breaches specifically concerned legal requirements for the loudness of advertisements, television shopping segments, and programme previews, as well as the acoustic signals used to indicate their broadcast. Consequently, in a decision published on 29 January 2026, the Media Council imposed a total fine of 1.05 million Hungarian forints (HUF) (approximately EUR 2 770) on the public broadcaster.

Similarly, Hír TV was found to have violated the legal provisions on the volume of advertisements on three separate occasions during the same period. The Media Council imposed a total fine of HUF 120 000 (approximately EUR 315) on Hír TV Zrt.

In a decision published on 22 January 2026, the Council found that ATV Zrt. violated the prohibition on surreptitious commercial communication. During an episode of ATV Híradó aired on 10 October 2025, a segment entitled "From Olympic champions to Tankcsapda, everyone is celebrating the country's favourite hot dog" featured information with significant promotional value. The Council determined the segment was designed to raise interest in a specific corporate group's products and services without being identified as advertising. For this violation, the broadcaster was fined HUF 125 000 (approximately EUR 330).