Although the station is owned by the Hungarian Faith Church, the station is politically and editorially independent. The channel is one of a small number of broadcasters and media outlets which have been openly critical of the
Fidesz-KDNP government. Members of such government and media outlets which favour the coalition have criticized its
non-government-friendly programs and
left-wing or liberal presenters. On recent years, the station has increased its informational and political programming, whilst maintaining a public interest format; as a result, the owners of ATV launched an additional television station,
ATV Extra, available exclusively through pay-TV services, which airs more entertainment programming, including old American television series, as well as more religious programming, specially, from the Faith Church. This editorial stance has caused some outcry, mainly due to the Faith Church's fundamentalist ideas and ATV's left-wing orientations, an issue which has caused a conflict of interests. Although the station retains its critical stance, the station has reduced some of its analytical programming due to pressure from management at the Faith Church, which has increased its association with the Fidesz-KDNP government in recent years; as a result, many presenters have departed to other opposition media outlets. The station, as part of its transition into an informational TV channel, signed an exclusive deal with
CNN International to broadcast some of its programming on its schedule, including a daily edition of
CNN Newsroom; a similar deal was also signed with
Deutsche Welle. Such programming is broadcast with Hungarian translation. == References ==