TV2 (Hungary)
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TV2 (TV Kettő) is a Hungarian
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
television channel operating since 4 October 1997, providing a large variety of programming. It is rivaling with RTL for the first place in Hungarian television ratings. Among its most popular self-produced shows were
Megasztár ''Megasztár - Voice of the Year'' was a Hungarian a music talent show that started in 2003 on TV2. While it is widely considered an unlicensed clone of the British television show ''Pop Idol'' (and sometimes even referred to as ''Hungarian Id ...
("Mega Star", an adaptation of
Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...
), and the daily prime time
soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...
Jóban Rosszban, and US shows like
Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...
,
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, NCIS: Los Angeles,
Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton ...
,
Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
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Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...
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House M.D. ''House'' (also called ''House, M.D.'') is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network for eight seasons, from November 16, 2004, to May 21, 2012. The series' main character is G ...
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and Lipstick Jungle. TV2 is aired throughout Hungary. TV2 is also aired in
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
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Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
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Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
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Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
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Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. 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. In 2020, TV2 was the market-leading commercial television channel in Hungary in daytime. In February 2021, its streaming service called TV2 Play was launched, where previous programs and series can be watched. The current CEO is the French-Bulgarian media professional Pavel Stanchev.


Ownership

The channel was formerly owned by SBS until 2007, when it was sold to
ProSiebenSat.1 Media ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media & digital company. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Ventures. The company is listed on the Fran ...
. It was sold the management in 2013, and subsequently to film producer
Andrew G. Vajna Andrew G. Vajna (born András György Vajna; 1 August 1944 – 20 January 2019) was a Hungarian film producer whose films include the first three entries in the ''Rambo'' series, '' Total Recall'', '' Tombstone'', ''Die Hard with a Vengeance' ...
in 2015. Vajna died on 20 January 2019, and then the whole group was sold to József Vida in June 2019.


Sister channels

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.


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 commenting that Károly Fonyó, the owner of a company associated with
Lajos Simicska Lajos Simicska (born 28 January 1960) is a former Hungarian business magnate, a former politician of Fidesz, and he was the head of APEH, Hungary's internal revenue service between 1998–1999, during the first government of Viktor Orbán. He wa ...
(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. At the same time, Andy Vajna, with the assistance of Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 20 ...
, and state-owned lender Eximbank, 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 Story magazine, becoming the chief news director, and Nóra Kunfalvi, former
Hír TV Hír TV is a Hungarian television news channel, the first of such made in the country. It began broadcasting on 2 January 2003. History Initial years On 26 November 2002, the TV channel was registered using 20 million Hungarian forints (~64 ...
anchor, becoming the station's lead anchor. 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". 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. That same year, TV2 won nearly a fifth of state advertising spending, four times more than RTL Klub, according to the independent Hungarian watchdog Mérték Media Monitor. After Vajna's death, József Vida, the chairman of savings bank Takarékbank, took over the TV2 Group through his Abraham Goldmann Investment Trust. Vida has a close relationship with pro-Orbán businessman
Lőrinc Mészáros Lőrincz Mészáros (born 24 February 1966) is a Hungarian businessman, and former politician, who served as Mayor of the hungarian village Felcsút between 2011 and 2018 . With an estimated wealth of 407.7 billion forint ($1.3 billion) ...
. After taking over the group, Gerkens stepped down as CEO and Miklós Vaszily took over in the same position. He was later joined by French-Bulgarian media professional Pavel Stanchev, who has retained the station's political positions in favour of the government. However, he began to leverage the station's transition to a digital-first environment, by renaming the niche channels to make them more in line with the mother channel, and launching a centralized streaming portal, TV2 Play, where alongside catch-up programming, previous programs and series can be watched. Vida also negotiated the station's expansion to other countries. In October 2020, TV2 bought the Slovenian commercial network Planet TV from
Telekom Slovenije Telekom Slovenije d.d. (, "Telecom of Slovenia") is a telecommunications company based in Slovenia, with its headquarters in Ljubljana. History In 1994 PTT Slovenija separated postal and telecommunication activities and transferred all telecommuni ...
. The channel had suffered from financial problems and struggling ratings dating back to its launch in 2012. The merger generated heavy concerns about the station's independence as well as the increasing influence of pro-Orbán businessmen in Slovenian media, and its growing links with prime minister
Janez Janša Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2 ...
.


References


External links


Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tv2 (Hungary) Television networks in Hungary Television channels and stations established in 1997 1997 establishments in Hungary Mass media in Budapest