ATV (formerly known as Magyar ATV) is the first Hungarian private

TV channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, wit ...

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

continuously since 1989, with a focus on news, public life, and current events. Licensed as a partially public service commercial television station, it is obliged to broadcast

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

programs ( news,

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...

) 50% of the time. Because of this special status, the channel is eligible to apply for grants from the government and the radio and television authority. As of 2003 the owner of the channel is the Hungarian Faith Church. It is the first private TV channel in Hungary, being established in late 1989 and airing ever since.

Current programs

The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...

(with Hungarian dubbing) * A nap híre (''The News of Day'') - political investigation program * ATV Híradó (''ATV News'') * ATV Start -

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a l ...

program * Az atv.hu bemutatja (atv.hu presents) * CSATT (''BANG'') - political discussion * Csisztu 24 - * Egyenes beszéd (''Straight Talk'') * Esti Frizbi (''Evening Frisbee'') - talkshow with Péter Hajdú * Havas a pályán (''Havas on the track'') - political discussion and opinion program with journalist Henrik Havas * Kipa (Kippah) - program about life of Jews in Hungary and about

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Logos

File:ATV first logo.svg, 1999–2004 File:ATV logo.svg, 2006–2011 File:ATV new logo.svg, 2011–2018

Editorial stance and criticism

Although the station is owned by the Hungarian Faith Church, the station is politically and editorially independent. The channel is one of a small number of broadcasters and media outlets which have been openly critical of the Fidesz-KDNP government. Members of such government and media outlets which favour the coalition have criticized its non-government-friendly programs and left-wing or liberal presenters. On recent years, the station has increased its informational and political programming, whilst maintaining a public interest format; as a result, the owners of ATV launched an additional television station, ''ATV Spirit'', available exclusively thru pay-TV services, which airs more entertainment programming, including old American television series, as well as more religious programming, specially, from the Faith Church. This editorial stance has caused some outcry, mainly due to the Faith Church's fundamentalist ideas and ATV's left-wing orientations, an issue which has caused a conflict of interests. Although the station retains its critical stance, the station has reduced some of its analytical programming due to pressure from management at the Faith Church, which has increased its association with the Fidesz-KDNP government in recent years; as a result, many presenters have departed to other opposition media outlets. The station, as part of its transition into an informational TV channel, signed an exclusive deal with

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...

to broadcast some of its programming on its schedule, including a daily edition of

CNN Newsroom ''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is an American news programming block that airs on CNN. Broadcasting for 43 hours each week, ''Newsroom'' features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the iss ...

; a similar deal was also signed with Deutsche Welle. Such programming is broadcast with Hungarian translation.

References

Television networks in Hungary Television channels and stations established in 1989 1989 establishments in Hungary Mass media in Budapest {{Europe-tv-station-stub