ceetv.net publishes the full statement from RTL Hungary reacting to the plans of the Hungarian government to introduce a tax on the advertising revenues of local media:

RTL Hungary has been appalled by the bill on media tax, which seriously threatens the economic viability of our company. RTL Hungary and its owner, RTL Group, closely monitor the events relating to the parliamentary motion regarding the tax.

The minister of national economy pointed out in a radio interview this morning that the approval of the media tax bill was very likely. In our opinion the objective of the introduction of this tax is nothing less than an aggressive attempt by the government to obstruct the biggest media company of the country, which proved its independence from the parties and the government in the past 17 years.

According to the bill, the media tax would be submitted to the Parliament, again, in a form that most of it, that is around 50% of it, would burden RTL Hungary.

The effect of the media tax on the state budget is minimal: its total amount expected to come from all the media companies would be less than 11-12% of the budget of HUF 78 billion of the public service media, and not much more than the amount spent by the National Bank of Hungary on advertising this year.

RTL has been operating in Hungary for 17 years, and has been paying its taxes just as any other business association in the country. It has significantly contributed to the state budget also last year. The magnitude of this amount is the same as the entire amount of the currently planned media tax, that is the total amount of the media tax burdening not only RTL but the whole industry. Thus it is quite obvious that the main objective of the introduction of the media tax is not the improvement of the balance of the state budget.
RTL provides for the livelihood of at least 600 families, directly or indirectly, and has been operating the most watched television channel for more than 15 years (in addition to its seven additional channels launched since), its programs (Barátok közt (Between Friends), The X Factor, Éjjel-Nappal Budapest (Day and Night), Showder Klub, Házon kívül (Outside the House), XXI. század (21st Century), Fókusz (Focus), Hiradó (News), etc) provide daily entertainment for several million citizens, many of whom consider RTL as their main and independent source of news.

By disciplined management our company was able to maintain its profitability, which is essential for operating independently of politics, even through the toughest years of the economic crisis. The currently planned tax, in which regard the tax rate and the method of introduction is unknown among democratically operating countries, would cause our company a loss of several billion forint, and thereby threaten the profitable operation of the biggest independent player of the Hungarian media market, as well as related jobs and certain programs.

We would like to emphasize that RTL Hungary continues to be committed to market-based operation, the provision of an independent news service, and to produce and show the most watched entertainment programs in Hungary also in the future.