Budapest - Hungary's largest commercial radio station turned to the courts on Tuesday as opposition politicians repeated calls for an investigation into alleged political bias in the awarding of FM broadcasting rights. US-owned pop music station Slager Radio and its competitor Danubius Radio are both set to go off the air on November 18 after 12 years of broadcasting after their bids were trumped by newcomers last week in a license renewal tender called by the national broadcasting authority ORTT.
ORTT president Laszlo Majtenyi, who has already resigned over the issue, called the decision "unprofessional and illegal."
Speaking on breakfast television, he cited an "unrealistic business plan" and inconsistencies in the respective bids of the two eventual winners.
"That, despite this, Advenio and Est Media FM1 still won reflects well the current state of democracy here," Majtenyi said.
Slager Radio claims the ORTT's decision last Wednesday was unlawful and politically motivated. It is seeking an injunction so it can continue broadcasting pending an investigation.
"We will fight against this decision because it is fundamentally flawed, and our 3.5 million listeners deserve better.
"We must together defend independent and objective media in Hungary," Slager managing director Edina Heal told the local news agency MTI.
Meanwhile, the leader of the small conservative opposition Hungarian Democratic Forum accused the governing Hungarian Socialist Party and the main opposition party, the centre-right Fidesz, of striking a backroom deal.
"Fidesz and the socialists made a pact over the frequencies," Iboya David wrote, saying that each party had voted for the other's "party radio station."
The parliamentary group leader of the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats, former economy minister Janos Koka, repeated a call for a parliamentary committee to be set up.
"As ever murkier details over the alleged wrongdoing come to light, it becomes increasingly unacceptable that the two big parties refuse an investigation," Koka told reporters.
The Free Democrat delegate to the ORTT refused to participate in Wednesday's vote, leaving only two delegates each from the larger parties to make the decision on awarding broadcasting rights.
"These two parties are doing nothing more than acting as mouthpieces for the financial interests of certain economic groups," Fidesz spokesman Peter Szijjarto told reporters.
Socialist caucus leader Attila Mesterhazy dismissed an earlier call by Janos Koka for an emergency committee meeting, noting that the ORTT is an independent media authority.
"No one has the opportunity or the right to interfere in its activities," Mesterhazy said.
One of the two nationwide FM licenses was awarded to a firm called Advenio, which is owned in part by a right-leaning Budapest radio station.
The other went to a consortium called FM1, backed by Est Media, which also owns a Budapest radio station as well as a popular listings magazine.
Slager Radio plans to hold a large protest concert in the Hungarian capital on Sunday.
