The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has launched an extraordinary investigation into the country’s broadcasting and rebroadcasting market.
According to <em>Media 1, this follows indications that TV broadcasters provide their services to larger rebroadcasters at lower rates than to smaller rebroadcasters.
It adds that rebroadcasters such as cable operators edit content from broadcasters into software packages that are then sold on to consumers. The level of fees paid by the rebroadcasters also has a significant impact on the amount they charge for their packages and higher fees may affect what they can include in the packages.
On the other hand, the GVH also concedes that higher fees and the competition between larger broadcasters could have some positive effects for consumers.
The GVH will issue a public report following its investigation and may take several courses of action if it finds any distortions in the market.
Its aim is to ensure the market best serves the interests of consumers.
Media 1 also says that small and medium sized cable operators are in trouble and have recently turned to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for help.
Ferenc Kéry, the president of the Hungarian Communications Association (MKSZ), said in a letter to the Prime Minister that one of the general problems of the market was that media service providers usually charge much higher monthly programme fees to smaller companies than competing large service providers.
