The Budapest Court of Appeals has upheld a first-instance ruling by the Municipal Court in a radio frequency tender case brought by Slager Radio against national radio and television authority ORTT, Slager Radio CFO Laszlo Jakus told MTI on Wednesday.
The Budapest Municipal Court ruled in January that accepting the bid by the winner of a tender in the autumn called by ORTT for a countrywide commercial radio frequency was against the law, but it said ORTT was under no obligation to break the contract signed after the tender.
Mr Jakus said Slager Radio “expects” ORTT to cancel the contract with the tender winner – newcomer FM1, which operates Neo FM – without delay in light of the Court of Appeals’ ruling.
In a statement published on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange on Wednesday, FM 1 owner econet.hu said the Court of Appeals’ ruling would have “no direct effect on the ownership and operation of the national radio frequency used by FM1″ as the Budapest Municipal Court ruled it could not force ORTT to terminate the contact with the FM1.
In a tender for Hungary’s other countrywide commercial radio frequency, also called in the autumn, the incumbent Danubius Radio lost to newcomer Advenio, which operates Class FM. The Municipal Court made a similar ruling in January in a case brought by Danubius Radio against ORTT .
Some industry insiders speculated ORTT’s decision was politically motivated.