Vivvo CMS 4.1 http://www.rbr.com/ ©2010 Spoonlabs d.o.o. http://www.rbr.com/files.php?file=rss_logo1_757997737.jpg http://www.rbr.com/ http://www.rbr.com/radio/18563.html Radio News Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:57:00 -0500 Come this Thursday, November 19th, a monumental change is due to take place in Hungary – with the two most popular radio networks to be replaced by upstarts tied to the country’s two main political parties Radio News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:37:30 -0500 As a one-time business reporter for Reuters in Budapest, I have to observe that at least half the story is glaringly absent from this post. Slager and Danubius wanted their radio licenses extended automatically, i.e. no rebidding, for another seven years. Emmis, iike all key stakeholders in this game, lobbied Hungarian law-makers heavily last year for an amendment to Hungary's media law to make this possible. And won! However, Hungary's president turned to the country's constitutional court for a legal review, and the court found that no-bid, automatic extension violates free competition and anti-monopoly legislation. So a tender was announced and Slager and Danubius lost. Why? This post fails to mention that there's been a huge political shift in Hungary's political landscape. The current "left leaning" governing party, who backed Slager (Emmis) all these years (yes, that's how it won its radio license) will be ousted next year and the likely new "right-leaning" governing elite is backing totally different media groups. It's all about political elites and their political favoritism, as is practiced worldwide, including the USA. Emmis, too, lobbied heavily in Hungary just like anybody else with a stake in the game, first to obtain a no-bid extension of its license, and then to win the rebidding. Local media commentators actually criticized Emmis for its heavy-handed, counterproductive PR narrative, which openly demanded the continued "right" to the Hungarian radio frequency it's been using for the past 12 years as though the radio license were its birthright. Was the bidding process corrupted? Yes it was. Was it corrupted when Slager and Danubius emerged as winners? Yes it was. Indeed, after it won the license 12 years ago Slager fought aggressively to renegotiate the terms of its own bid after the fact, and the corrupt system, whose political backing it then fully enjoyed, granted Slager new terms, ie. it was allowed to pay less money for the license. So Slager (Emmis) has had a great deal all these years, made tons of profit. Now it's somebody else's turn. And to talk about Stalinism" in relation to Hungary is just silly and serves only to cover up the totality of the facts of the "radio wars" (now two decades old by the way), which this post fails to present. It's not about our "good guys" vs. their "bad guys" at all. It's all about making profit and doing whatever's necessary to snag opportunity. Slager (Emmis) and Danubius had no complaints so long as they were in. Now that they're out they're screaming murder. Slager and Danubius are popular radio stations in Hungary, and I'd personally be sorry to see either of them disappear from the air. Indeed, it is being rumored that Slager is hoping to relaunch on another, perhaps regional, frequency.