November 3rd, 2009

Wallis Watch (I): Will MTV tune out of new headquarters?

We almost missed this interesting piece from a while back on lefty daily Népszava, which claims that state broadcaster MTV is pushing for a new deal on the 55,000 sqm headquarters on Buda’s Bojtár utca it has occupied since moving out of its landmark former seat on Pest’s Szabadság tér. While the building has gotten bad press previously due to its high cost and hazy ownership, the griping has since come to involve lots of alleged technical faults, some of which have forced MTV to broadcast programs from decades-old transmitting vans parked on the street. While the political connections of its developer – Wing Zrt, previously known as Wallis Ingatlan, the property subsidiary of the conglomerate formerly run by current Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai – have up to now probably helped to keep the problem tenant in line, with the coming elections it seems plausible that MTV may end up canceling the deal like some unfunny situation comedy. Stay tuned.

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  1. Expat Hun says:

    Let’s hope MTV will have the guts to tell Bajnai-Wallis-Wing where they can shove it.

  2. david says:

    They have a building. This is news to me. I was certain that ALL there broadcasting was done from the back of a van. Certainly looks like it.

  3. Expat Hun says:

    This coming from the internationally renkown master broadcaster david, it almost makes sense. But then again, it probably still doesn’t.