Funniest Hungarian mistranslations in Friends
Friends, the iconic American sitcom was extremely popular worldwide when it first aired (and still is). It was no different in Hungary, people loved the show. Friends re-runs attract many viewers up to this day. In Hungary, Friends (and pretty much everything else) is dubbed. As we are humans after all, mistakes happen in translation. In the following list, few of the funniest Hungarian mistranslations are highlighted from the popular sitcom Friends.
Disclaimer: Translation is not easy. I do not intend to scorn the work of people who worked hard on the Hungarian dubbing, so that everyone could enjoy the show. But let’s face it, these are obvious mistranslations, and regardless of why they turned out the way they did, they are hilarious.
Mirror translations are dangerous
In season 1, episode 9, Ross is sad because his parents decided not to host a thanksgiving dinner that year. Monica (his sister) offers to host one for the group, and she tries to make everything like their mother does.
The English text goes like this:
- Monica: “OK, I tell you what: how about I cook dinner at my place. I’ll make it just like mom’s.”
- Ross: “Will you make the mashed potatoes with the lumps?”
Mashed potatoes have lumps when the mixture is not well-mixed, and small pieces of potatoes remain “unmashed” and make the mixture look like it has little lumps in it. Translators were probably not familiar with the term “lump”, so they looked it up in the dictionary and came up with this:
- Monica: “Na jólvan tudod mit? Ünnepelj nálam. Majd én főzöm a vacsorát, olyat, amilyet anyu szokott.”
- Ross: “Teszel nyúlhalat a krumplipürébe?” [Will you put lumpfish in the mashed potatoes?]
They decided to translate “lumps” as “nyúlhal” which is “lumpfish”, cyclopterus lumpus in Latin to be exact. In theory, lump could mean lumpfish, but why on Earth would that be in the mashed potatoes??
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org By Jiel
Tricky Homophones
A homophone is a word that has the same sound as another word but is spelled differently and has a different meaning. Probably this phenomenon lead to this second mistranslation that happened in season 5, episode 8. The group celebrates thanksgiving, and Joey is listing the things he is thankful for:
- Joey: “I am thankful for this beautiful fall we have been having. Yeah, the other day at the bus stop this lovely fall breeze came in out of nowhere and blew this chick’s skirt right up. Oh, which reminds me, I am also thankful for thongs.”
The last bit is what is important for us, that he is thankful for thongs, a type of women’s underwear. The Hungarian translation goes like this:
- Joey: “Hálás vagyok ezért a gyönyörű őszi időért. A múltkor is állok a buszmegállóban és az édes őszi szellő hirtelen felfújja egy csaj szoknyáját. Ó, ez eszembe jutatta, hogy hálás vagyok a nyelvemért.” [… Oh, that reminds me, I am thankful for my tongue.]
Here, at the end, Joey says that he is thankful for his tongue. Thong and tongue can easily be mistaken if heard by a non-native speaker. However, context clearly suggests “thong” and not “tongue” in this case.
Cultural differences
It often happens that a joke or reference is hard to translate because it contains a culture specific element that people from other cultures might not be familiar with. For this reason, this next mistranslation is forgivable. In season 4, episode 7, Monica mentions Starbucks:
- Monica: “You know, there’s a Starbucks about three blocks down.”
The same sentence was translated to Hungarian as:
- Monica: “Tudjátok, itt van három saroknyira egy csillagvizsgáló” [You know, there’s an observatory about three blocks down.]
The first Starbucks opened in Budapest in 2010, and this episode aired in 1997. Translators were either not familiar with the coffee chain, or they knew that the Hungarian audience will not be familiar with it, so they avoided the brand name, which is fine. However, an “observatory” – a place investigating stars (Get it? STARbucks…) – was a really bad choice. They probably should have gone with: “there’s another coffee shop three blocks down.”
The next one is similar to the previous one, but this time it is not Starbucks that caused difficulties for the translators but the fast-food chain: Subway. In season 8, episode 9, Brad Pritt is guest-starring as Will, Monica’s and Ross’s old friend, and they say the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ0yqOavyPo&t=17s
- Monica: “You must have lost…”
- Will: “… a 150 pounds. Yeah, I’m gonna be in one of those Subway sandwich commercials.”
The same in Hungarian was:
- Monica: “Fogytál vagy…”
- Will: “…összesen 70 kilót. Velem készítik a legújabb szendvics reklámot a metróban.” [They will make a sandwich commercial with me in the underground.]
This episode aired in 2001. Even though the first Subway opened in Hungary in 2004, I think the internet was pretty much “a thing” by 2001, translators should have done a little research. I understand that subway can be translated as metro/underground in Hungarian, but why would anybody make a sandwich commercial IN the underground?
I tried to illustrate that mistranslations can happen for a number of reasons: translating something word for word without taking the meaning and context into consideration, confusing words because they sound the same or because they are spelled the same, or having trouble with culturally loaded content. Unfortunately, many jokes got lost in translation. Nevertheless, Friends will always be one of our favourite shows.
Featured Image: Facebook.com/friends.tv/
Game of Thrones live concert experience at Budapest
Szeretlek Magyarország reports that the Game of Thrones live concert experience makes a stop at Budapest, bringing spectacular video shows and a full orchestra.
The concert will take place on the 18th of May 2018 at the Budapest Sportarena. The composer Ramin Djawadi will conduct the orchestra, choir and the soloists. The musical performance will be accompanied by stunning stage effects and video footages.
‘The size and the spectacle of the performance will bring the world of Westeros and Essos to the audience in a fascinating way’ –
said Ramin Djawadi, the main composer of the series’ musical score. The tour took off in February 2017, three years after the preparations based on Djawadi’s plans have started.
YouTube/TimmyCVideosAccording to the concert announcement, the fans of Game of Thrones love its musical score just as much as the plot twists and exciting events taking place in the story. The carefully composed songs have a big role to play in highlighting tension and emotional dilemmas, along with contributing to the depth of the fight scenes, thus bringing George R.R. Martin’s story to life.
Let’s not forget about the fact that the opening theme of the series has become iconic and cultic today, covered and adapted on several occasions.
So, what should one expect from the concert, aside from the series’ score?
The organisers say that they’ve compiled footage and images especially for the tour.
photo: facebook.com/GameOfThrones
Ramin Djawadi worked previously on the 2008 Iron Man, the musical score of which was nominated for a Grammy. He also worked on Pacific Rim, Clash of Titans and Warcraft.
He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Game of Thrones, for Westworld, which is broadcast by HBO as well, for FlashForward and for Prison Break.
From his latest projects, Szeretlek Magyarország highlights the musical score of The Mountain Between Us, which premieres in cinemas this October.
YouTube/Film.Music.MediaThe Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series is watched by tens of millions of people around the world. The characters and particular scenes have inspired an endless collection of memes, and a Hungarian designer too,
whose work was introduced to the cast not long ago.
See other upcoming concerts in Budapest here.
featured image: YouTube/cineversum
Ce: bm
Hungarian people still obtain information from TV and advertising papers
As Index.hu states, Publicus Institution conveyed a survey on Sunday due to the assignment of Vasárnapi Hírek: in this representative survey, they asked 927 people of voting age about their media consumption habits.
Television is still the main source of news
People making up half of the sample obtain information mainly from television, while 36 percent from the internet. Radio and printed press are behind with 4 percent each. While two thirds of the people under 30 and graduates mostly obtain information from the internet, two thirds of people above 60 and those with only primary school studies obtain information from the TV.
Radio is mostly popular among people over 60 and skilled workers (7 and 6 percent), while printed press is the source of news for people over 60 and those with basic studies (9 and 6 percent). The difference is minimal between the supporters of different parties, but mostly voters of Jobbik (53 percent) obtain information from the internet, according to the survey.
There is a lack of balance
The respondents consider the MTVA channels, Echo TV and TV2 as obviously or rather transmitting Fidesz’s opinion (61, 60 and 42 percent), 444.hu as transmitting the left wing’s opinion (34 percent), while they see HVG.hu, Index and 24.hu as the most balanced sources of news (58, 54 and 52 percent).
A quarter of the respondents think that Origo reflects Fidesz’s opinion, one percent think that it is related to the left wing, while 43 percent think that it is balanced. In the case of Index, 7 percent think that it transmits Fidesz’s opinion, 17 percent think that it is connected to the left wing, while 54 percent think that it is balanced.
Concerning TV2, 42 percent think that it is related to Fidesz’s views, one percent think that it is close to the left wing, while quarter of the respondents think that it is balanced. In the case of RTL Klub, 13 percent think that it is rather related to Fidesz, 18 percent think that it is close to the left wing, while 35 percent consider it balanced.
In the case of Hír TV, 19 percent think that it is related to Fidesz, 14 percent think that it is related to the left wing, and 13 percent think that it transmits Jobbik’s views, while third of them think it is balanced. Concerning ATV, 7 percent connect it to Fidesz’s opinion, third of the respondents connect it to the left wing, while 44 percent consider it balanced
Young people do not care about different opinions
56 percent of the respondents obtain information from a medium connected to an opposing political view at least once a month, but only half of these do so regularly. Mostly MSZP voters are open for channels from a different point of view (61 percent), while Jobbik voters do so the least (53 percent).
There is an interesting phenomenon concerning the age groups: the younger generations are less open to different opinions.
Under 45 years, only 14-17 percent consume such content, while double of this do so over 45 years (28-30 percent).
Printed press? Advertisement papers!
Half of the respondents consume free printed press products, but only 34 percent read papers that deal with public issues. Two thirds of the consumers read advertisement sheets and local or municipal papers, half of them read advertising newspapers, a quarter of them read Lokál that is distributed in public transport intersections.
It is interesting that Lokál, which is part of the Habony press, is read mostly by MSZP voters (28 percent), while this rate is 22 and 24 percent among Fidesz voters and uncertain people, respectively. The popularity of local papers and Lokál is the highest in Budapest (73 and 53 percent), and it is the lowest in the settlements (47 and 9 percent).
Half of the consumers of free public issue papers consider the contents credible, and it is only Budapest where people who think that these papers are rather less credible are in slight majority (44 percent against 41 percent). People from the countryside consider these papers credible in a 71 percent rate, and only 15 percent of people from settlements have doubts about them.
Source: Index.hu
Ce: bm
This is what Hungarians watch most on Netflix
Netflix has been making our lives easier for ten years now, with BBC’s Sherlock as its most popular content worldwide. Hvg.hu reports that you can find out what the favourite series are in each country – in Hungary, it’s an animated series.
Netflix started out as a small company that sold and rented DVDs by mail but eventually created an online platform as well in 2007. The first Netflix production, House of Cards, came in 2013, and they’ve been producing series ever since. This year, Netflix has two movies premiering at Cannes.
High Speed Internet set off on a mission to find out which series were streamed most by the users, where is Netflix the most popular and what are the subscription fees around the world.
You can check out this map containing the favourites of over 91 countries (Netflix is actually available in over 190 countries, but the list regarding the favourite shows only refers to 91 of them). Not surprisingly, Sherlock leads, Friends is second best, but some of the Netflix originals are on the list as well: Narcos in the third, and House of Cards in fourth place, with the New Girl sitcom as fifth.
In the United States, Showtime’s Shameless is the most streamed show, while in the United Kingdom it is Call the Midwife, that everyone’s gushing about. In Hungary, where Netflix is mostly known by the younger generations, Family Guy is the most popular one. Apart from the top five series, Lost, Breaking Bad and Black Mirror are still fairly successful.
Hungary did not make the list containing the subscription fees, but as it turns out, Netflix costs the least in Colombia (5,37 USD per month), and it’s the priciest in Switzerland (12,13 USD per month).
Netflix is available in Hungary since January last year, for the price of 8,69 dollars a month, for the basic service.
photos: facebook.com/netflix,
Ce: bm
The greatest media moguls of Hungary
They are the aces of the Hungarian media
- Chairman of RTL became the most influential media personality again
- Gabriella Vidus is the most influential Hungarian media personality.
According to Index.hu, RTL Hungary’s chairman Vidus Gabriella has been chosen as the most influential person in the Hungarian media industry for the third time in a row in Marketing&Média’s top list, which was concluded the tenth time this year. The owner of TV2 Group Andy Vajna kept his second place, while a new person arrived in the third place. Lőrinc Mészáros, who is the fifth richest person in Hungary and the mayor of Felcsút, debuted at the third place as the owner of Mediaworks Hungary and Echo TV.
Árpád Habony fell back to 11th place after being third last year. Leader of New Wave Media István Száraz, who purchased Origo, got the 33rd place, while the new owner of Figyelő Mária Schmidt became 46th.
The list with 50 members was compiled by a jury of experts. As in the years before, RTL Klub’s dominance was significant, four personalities represent the commercial channel altoghether. Atmedia’s influence is also great: this is the company that commerces the advertising time of TV2 and MTVA’s channels.
About half of the list consists of top managers, another 30 percent are leading experts, and 14 percent are owners. Marketing&Média also notes that the influence of people who create content has decreased this year, and it is marked by the fact that only leader of Index Gergely Dudás made it to the Top 50, though editor in chief of Bors (Ferenc Pallagi) and 444 (Péter Uj) were also among the most influential personalities last year.
It was also revealed concerning the 10 year jubilee that Gabriella Vidus, József Bayer, Péter Kolosi, Zsolt Somlói, Béla Németh and Levente Málnay B. have been the most influential during the past 10 years, as they ranked on all the lists so far.
They are this year’s Top 10:
- Gabriella Vidus (RTL Hungary)
- Andy Vajna (TV2 Media Group)
- Lőrinc Mészáros (Mediaworks Hungary, Echo Tv)
- Zoltán Varga (Central Media Group)
- Péter Kolosi (RTL Hungary)
- Dirk Gerkens (TV2 Media Group)
- Christopher Mattheisen (Telekom Hungary)
- Csaba Lukács (Atmedia)
- Dr József Bayer (Ringier Axel Springer)
- János Gulyás (MEC Hungary)
Photo: RTL Klub
Ce: bm
New video store of Amazon available in Hungary
It is possible to subscribe for the rival of Netflix in 200 countries. After the 7-days free trial the movies, series and the exclusive programs of Amazon can be watched for three dollars a month, reports Index.
AmazonPrime Video, the online video-lending of Amazon officially started on the 14th December. The service is available in 200 countries including Hungary.
The service can be used with our existing or newly created Amazon profile after giving our personal and credit card information. At the beginning dozens of oldtime movies, eight series, made by Amazon, and other videos can be watched for free for seven days.
After the seven days the system automatically changes to the monthly fee if we do not delete our subscription. This is discounted for half a year in Hungary: the hopefully expanding supply of Amazon can be enjoyed for EUR 2.99. After the half year it changes to the full subscription fee: Amazon asks for EUR 5.99 for the service.
Prime Video is available only in English, but certain programs may have subtitles or dubbing. No Hungarian subtitles were found yet.
The videos can be streamed to PCs, smart phones and televisions, even to three at the same time. Moreover they are downloadable, so can be watched offline, later.
With this step Amazon Prime Video became available in more countries than its rival Netflix, which was released at the beginning of the year in 130 countries. However, China, the real market, is missing from both services’ target area, says The Verge. It was also mentioned that, although Netflix is available in less countries, but is much stronger than Amazon in terms of the supply. Amazon would like to attract subscribers mainly with the help of the car magazine Grand Tour with the former presenters of Top Gear.
And there is some chance for the latter, as Richardsons’ grandiose car program led all the torrent lists after the premier. In other words, it became the most frequently illegally downloaded TV program beating even Game of Thrones. Amazon hopes to earn more with the help of the high budget show now that Grand Tour became accessible worldwide.
Photo: index
Copy editor: bm
Hungary supports Visegrad Four launching TV channel
Budapest (MTI) – The Hungarian government has declared support for the launching of a television channel by the Visegrad Four group, according to a resolution published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny on Tuesday.
Signed by the prime minister, the resolution says that the government is committed to the project to be implemented jointly by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/tag/visegrad-four/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Read more news about VISEGRÁD FOUR[/button]
The proposal on the channel was put forward at an economic forum held in Krynica, Poland, in early September.
Photo: MTI
Budapest is featured in a Chinese TV series
The Hungarian capital city is one of the locations of a Chinese TV series, writes nlcafe.hu. The work has just begun these days, so watch out, you may bump into the filming of one of China’s most popular shows.
A Chinese TV series called Ren Jian Zhi Wei Shi Qing (in English: Love Actually) will feature Budapest among other places as one of its locations. Interestingly, the scenes shot here will actually portray Budapest this time, unlike when, for example, the city served as Moscow for World War Z.
Originally the shootings were set to be in Prague, but the producer eventually chose the capital of Hungary. A crew of 70 people arrived recently to city, including Csen Csiao-en and Tung Tavej, the two protagonists, who are celebrated singers back home.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/harrison-ford-spotted-budapest/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Harrison Ford is also in town[/button]
They are going to spend two weeks in Budapest, the locations of the filming are said to be the Liszt Ferenc Airport, Groupama Arena, Dorottya Palace, the bar of Gozsdu-udvar, the New York Café, the Fisherman’s Bastion restaurant, the Opera House and one of the luxury shops at Andrássy street.
The crew is helped by the Korda Studio and the Hungarian Tourism Agency. Furthermore, Eger and Gödöllő will also host some shooting sessions to the series which is an especially popular show in China: about 400-500 million people watch an episode.
Also, this might be seriously beneficial for Hungary’s tourism, because the locations of the popular series are beloved destinations of Chinese people and would encourage tourists to visit the country or city their favourite show was set in.
Photo: facebook.com/OperaHaz
Copy editor: bm
MTVA concludes broadcast agreement for Olympics
Budapest, June 18 (MTI) – Hungary’s public media fund MTVA has concluded an agreement for public media to broadcast summer and winter Olympics between 2018 and 2024.
The MTVA called the agreement “historic” in significance and said in a statement that this was the first time that the Games will be aired in Hungarian language throughout the Carpathian Basin.
Miklós Vaszily, MTVA’s interim chief executive said in a statement that an important part of the agreement is that it includes rights to digital content on the broadcasts of the Olympics.
Under the agreement signed between Discovery Communications and MTVA Hungarian viewers will be able to tune in to four Olympics from 2018 on the channels of public media and Eurosport platforms.
Cable TV companies protest RTL Klub, TV2 programme fees
Budapest, June 16 (MTI) – The Hungarian Cable Communications Association (KBSZ) has sent a letter to national media authority NMHH protesting against fees TV service providers will have to pay commercial broadcasters RTL Klub and TV2, business daily Vilaggazdasag said on Thursday.
RTL Klub and TV2 earlier announced they would require cable, IPTV, satellite and MMDS service providers to pay a net monthly fee of 294 forints (EUR 0.93) and 290 forints, respectively, per subscriber, from July 1.
Ferenc Kery, the chairman KBSZ, told the paper that the programme fees are discriminative, do not comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and are not in the interest of consumers.
Government film industry commissioner’s TV channel to expand progamme offering
Budapest, May 11 (MTI) – Commercial television broadcaster TV2 group will soon launch a number of new cable channels, the programme director for the company’s cable portfolio has said at a conference.
The programme development is the biggest of the last 15 years, Gábor Fischer said at the Media Hungary conference on Tuesday in Siófok, in southwest Hungary, without revealing the cost of the project. Super TV2 wants to become the third-biggest player on the market, he added.
From the autumn, TV2 will start showing a daily four hours of self-produced content, he said. Later, it will announce the launch of a “really big investment”, he added.
The new channels will include food channel Chili TV, music channel Zenebutik, telenovela channel Isaura TV, lifestyle channel Joy TV and children’s channel Kiwi TV. It will also re-position women’s channel FEM3 as Prime TV and PRO4 as film channel M+. Two more channels are also in the works.
Related article:
HERE ARE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE HUNGARIAN MEDIA
The changes at TV2 will have a deep impact on the market, Fischer said.
Magyar Broadcasting, a company owned by government film industry commissioner, Andrew Vajna, recently acquired TV2.
Photo: MTI
Eurovision 2016 – Freddie wins in Hungary! – VIDEO
The show ‘Eurovision – A Dal’ has been organized to pick the Hungarian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. Last night was the final of its 2016 edition. After two rounds of voting the winning trophy was handed to Freddie (Gábor Alfréd Fehérvári), eurovision.tv reports.
The jury (Károly Freinreisz, Pierrot, Zséda, Miklós Both) choose the super-finalists out of eight entries.
Four acts had qualified for the super-final:
Freddie won the super-final against three competing acts by the decision of the televoters. The 25 years old singer won the right to represent Hungary in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. Last year, Boggie with “Wars for Nothing” finished in twentieth place in Vienna.
Watch Freddie’s winning performance of Pioneer here:
Photo: MTI
Copy editor: bm
Two additional public televisions may start this year
According to origo.hu, one of them may start in the summer, the other one in the autumn.
MTVA plans to launch a cultural and a scientific-educational channel, but these will not start in the first half of 2016. Previously, they would have been launched in the summer and in December 2015.
It looks like that M5 will be a nationally available channel and M6 a Budapest channel. According to DTV News, the two new channels will start this year: M5 can be launched on August 1, while M6 can start in late November. Together with these, there will be 8 state televisions in Hungary, origo.hu reported.
Copy editor: bm
Netflix has arrived to Hungary
Netflix’s arrival in Hungary is not as big of a deal as the premiere of the new Star Wars movie was. If we ask 50 pedestrians on the street, probably 35 haven’t heard about it. Internet streaming media is not too popular in Hungary yet…but if Netflix continues spreading this dynamically, then it’ll definitely be as popular as it is in the USA.
Netflix Inc. is an American worldwide provider of on-demand Internet streaming media, and of flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States, where mailed DVDs and Blu-ray are sent via Permit Reply Mail. As of October 2015, Netflix reported 69.17 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 43 million in the U.S.
Index.hu writes that the subscription costs 8 Euros/month and the first month is free. This was announced by the company at CES, global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshow in Las Vegas. The managing director said that when they founded the company they hoped to provide billions of people. Today there are 3,2 billion internet users in the world which is a big growth compared to the 400 million internet users of the 2000s. You can use Netflix unlimitedly for 8 Euros/month on one device in low resolution, for 10 Euros on two devices in HD and for 12 Euros on four devices in UltraHD.
According to index.hu, the movie supply is a bit odd. Horror fans might not be amazed by the supply, the sci-fi selection is a bit poor and there aren’t too many classical movies. They also write that they haven’t found Hungarian as a language or subtitle choice so this might not be for everyone so far. It is believed that older movies and series will be synchronised, while newer ones will have Hungarian subtitles.
The TV-series supply is much more diverse. There are many series that you cannot find in your television or they are only starting to broadcast in Hungary. The seasons are adjusted to the American seasons, which is good news. What’s strange is that House of Cards, the flagship of Netflix is not available in Hungary. There’s also no The Big Bang Theory, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dr. House, How I Met Your Mother, Friends or Gilmore Girls. You can decide after the first month if you want to pay for this selection.
Becoming a global service provider is a real challenge. This is mostly due to broadcasting rights. However, people want an affordable service everywhere instead of pirating. Netflix is now available in 130 countries, including Hungary.
Photos: www.facebook.com/netflix
Media rivals clash over TV2 ownership
Budapest (MTI) – A legal dispute has emerged over ownership of Hungary’s second biggest commercial television broadcaster.
On 15 October, Magyar Broadcasting Co signed a contract with TV2 Media Group Holdings and CEE Broadcasting Holding to purchase a 100 percent stake in their businesses.
TV2’s portfolio includes the television channels TV2, Super TV2, FEM3 and PRO4. The company had revenue of 17.6 billion forints (EUR 57m) last year.
Magyar Broadcasting is owned by Andrew Vajna, a Hollywood producer and businessman who is also the government’s film industry commissioner.
It then emerged that Megapolis Media, owned by Karoly Fonyo, an associate of businessman Lajos Simicska’s, had paid 1 million euros for pre-emption rights in autumn 2014. Citing business confidentiality, Fonyo neither confirmed nor denied the related press reports.
Simicska controls various media interests including the daily Magyar Nemzet and HirTV.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the competition office (GVH), told public television M1 the office has not yet received a request from the group of companies owned by Fonyo to clear the acquisition of TV2.
TV2 was acquired in a management buyout from Germany’s ProSiebenSat1 by Zsolt Simon and Yvonne Dederick late in 2013. They said on Tuesday neither the pre-emption rights cited by Megapolis Media nor the circumstances in which they were exercised were legally valid, and they vowed to take legal steps in response. It was “unacceptable” that Megapolis Media had only informed the broadcaster’s management after TV2’s agreement with Magyar Broadcasting, they added.
They insisted that the current situation would not affect the agreement reached with Magyar Broadcasting.
Photo: TV2 Facebook page
Battle of the Hungarian oligarchs: TV2 will not belong to Andy Vajna, did Simicska overtake him?
According to origo.hu, Hungarian Broadcasting Co. Kft. owned by Andy Vajna could lost TV2, because Megapolis Media Zrt. says it had bought TV2 Media Group Holdings KFt.
Megapolis Media Zrt. writes in its statement that it bought the 100% business share on October 13, so indirectly it became the owner of the national media provider TV2.
Megapolis dismissed managing directors Yvonne Perla Dederick and Janos Zsolt Simon from the executive position of TV2, given the fact that they signed the sale and purchase contract of TV2 without the owner’s consent.
Karoly Fonyo, who owns Megapolis, said it came as surprise that the manager-owners of TV2 had sold the channel to Vajna. He expects legal disputes with Vajna and indicated he had already discussed with lawyers.
Reading the news, Karoly Fonyo did not deny that he had been informed about that Andy Vajna would like to purchase TV2, but he had not taken seriously the news.
As for the future of the channel, Fonyo said: they want to see the financial situation of TV2, since it has a debt of billions of forints. However, he said they still wanted to operate TV2.
Origo.hu was previously informed that Fonyo’s company, Megapolis Media Zrt – which is Lajos Simicska’s sphere of interest – called an option, so it used its emption right.
Anyway, option works in business that the buyer of the option has a chance to freely decide on the purchase of shares by a given date.
According to the data of Opten, Megapolis achieved a net profit of HUF 556.9 million, and it also closed over half a billion forints a year earlier. The company can be linked to the media empire of Lajos Simicska: besides Pro-Rata Holding Zrt., Megapolis bought the ownership of the Chairman of Kozgep company.
based on the article of origo.hu
translated by BA
Andy Vajna bought one of the largest Hungarian TV
According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, there was another change of ownership at TV2, and the buyer is Andy Vajna who feels at home in government circles. According to the information of the website Figyelo, the contrast has already been signed, which was preceded by a two-month-long negotiation. The news will be announced on this week.
The contract will be signed by managers Zsolt Simon and Yvonne Dederick who acquired the channel one and a half years ago. Vajna reportedly takes over and reimburse all debts of the current owners. The value of the sale and purchase can be more than HUF 20 billion. Signing the contract does not mean immediate receipt, but the leadership will certainly go to Vajna’s hands by the end of the year.
According to the information from inner circles, Vajna started the television business because Fidesz badly needs a servile channel with good views which broadcasts their political messages, not questioning the meaning and the reality of them.
Andy Vajn has been already interested in the channel. Recently vs.hu wrote that the Hungarian Broadcasting Co. owned by Vajna formulated a memorandum on the purchase of TV2 Media Group Kft. In September, there was already talk that maybe Vajna would also take the radio market with Matyas Bakai who can be linked to the former Roxy Radio and Dokk club.
based on the article of szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu
translated by BA
Photo: alfahir.hu
African-Hungarian Union: Tunisia can be an encouragement for Africa
Globoport.hu writes that Sándor Balogh, the president of the African-Hungarian Union was the guest of M1’s Este television programme. He talked about why the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet this year.
This year’s short-list included people like Angela Merkel German Chancellor, Denis Mukwege Congolese doctor and Pope Francis, but as it shocked many people, the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won the world’s most acknowledged award.
“The award is in a good place” said Sándor Balogh, who thinks that this win can act as an encouragement for the Tunisians, for Africa, and last but not least for countries who want to transition into a democracy instead of the one-time dictatorship.
Sándor Balogh emphasized that Tunisia is the only country that was able to start their conversion into democracy after the Jasmine Revolution. They turned to Hungarian experiences of the similar change of regime in 1989. ‘The country could serve as an example for the other countries of the continent under suppression.’ finished the president of the African-Hungarian Union.
The Quartet was formed by the contribution of unions, lawyers and human rights activists in such a critical time when Tunisia’s democratic development made a balk and the country was drifting towards a civil war-like stage. The coalition of civil society groups played a role in detaining bloodshed, and was able to get the country back on the path of peaceful democratic transition.
Translated by Alexandra Béni