Historical overview
From radio transmissions to the start of television broadcasts 1925-1953
From the start of television broadcasts to the time of colour television 1953-1969
From colour television broadcast to the foundation of Antenna Hungária 1969-1992
From the foundation of Antenna Hungária to the start of the digital experiments 1992-1999
AH in the 2000’s
Broadcasting operations in Hungary first commenced in 1925. From that time until 1 January 1990, the Hungarian Post had exclusive rights to provide postal, telecommunications and broadcasting services in Hungary. On 1 January 1990, some of the services rendered by the Hungarian Post were conferred upon newly formed companies. Broadcasting had been taken over by the newly established Hungarian Broadcasting Company which was reorganised pursuant to a decision of the Board of Directors of the State Property Agency in 1992 as a single member private company limited by shares under the name Hungarian Broadcasting and Radio Communications Company. Under the reorganisation procedure, the Hungarian State acquired 100% of the shares. Thereafter, in accordance with the relevant legal provisions, several Hungarian local councils acquired shares in our company. In May 1994, ÁPV Zrt. arranged a public offering and sold a share package in exchange for compensation notes.
The Media Act was passed in 1996 which resulted in the establishment of commercial television stations in Hungary. Since 1997, in addition to the three national public service television stations, our company has been providing broadcasting services for commercial television stations (TV2 and RTL Klub) as well. As regards the radio broadcasting services, in addition to the public service radio stations (Kossuth, Petőfi, Bartók), we have also been providing broadcasting services nationwide for commercial radio stations (Danubius and Sláger) since then. Having put the National Transport Network (Országos Transzport Hálózat - OTH) into service, our company entered the telecommunications market as well. We have been providing terrestrial, as well as satellite data and voice transmission services to a wide range of customers since 1998. The technological solution underlying these services involves our microwave backbone network, our fibre-optical system in Budapest, and VSAT satellite transmission as well.
On 9 February 1999, our shares were listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange. In 2000, we renamed the till then unencrypted AM-micro service to Antenna Mikro and encrypted the television programmes transmitted through this service by analogue means, thereby creating the basis for our multimedia services.
ÁPV Zrt. launched a privatisation transaction in 2000. The second phase of privatisation, however, had to be postponed indefinitely due to the unfavourable conditions on the international capital markets.
The streamlining of the company group's profile continued in 2003. The purpose of reorganisation was to clearly separate the organisation of the core broadcasting activities from that of the telecommunications services linked with it at a number of points. The state as a major owner also required these changes in relation to the preparation of the privatisation.
In September 2004, our company transferred its share package in Vodafone Magyarország Zrt. to Vodafone International Holdings B.V. The transaction was closed at the beginning of 2005.
In October 2004, regular terrestrial digital broadcast (DVB-T) was commenced at two premises - Budapest and Kabhegy - for the time being with programmes of the three public channels (mtv, m2 and Duna TV). A decision was made to digitalise AntennaMikro, an analogue, encoded distribution service launched in 2000. The decision was implemented on 1 December 2005. After the digital changeover, the name of the service was modified to Antenna Digital. As part of the preparations for privatisation, long-term contracts were concluded with some of the largest programme provider partners, such as the Hungarian Television, the Hungarian Radio, Sláger Radio, and Danubius Radio, and we continued to streamline our portfolio by selling our shareholdings in subsidiaries and associated parties not engaged in the core activities.
In the autumn of 2004, based on a government decision, ÁPV Zrt. invited tenders in relation to the privatisation of Antenna Hungária. Swisscom Broadcast AG, offering the highest purchase price, acquired the share package of Antenna Hungária, embodying 75% + 1 rights to vote. Having obtained the approval of both the Swiss and the Hungarian competition authorities, Swisscom Broadcast AG made a public purchase offer for all AH shares. The Swiss company then exercised its purchase right and thus became a 100% owner of Antenna Hungária. With 10 February 2006 being the last day for the trading of AH shares on the stock market, Swisscom Broadcast AG had the shares delisted from the Budapest Stock Exchange and transformed the company into a private company in the course of 2006.
On May 8 2007, the french company TDF S.A. agreed with Swisscom Broadcast AG to buy 100 percent shares of Antenna Hungária for HUF of 80.7 billion.