Ukraine takes Russian channels off air
Three Russian TV channels have been banned from broadcasting in Ukraine. The country's authorities ordered local cable operators to take them off air. More than half of Ukraine's population speaks Russian regularly and one third say it's their native tongue.

At midnight on November 1, three Russian TV channels were removed from cable networks in Ukraine, including an RTR-Planet station (RTR-Planet is the overseas wing of Russian state broadcaster RTR).

Operators said the ban came into effect after the National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting warned that all foreign channels must be adapted to comply with Ukrainian law or face being taken off air.

However, it seems that both the management of the Russian channels and Ukrainian cable companies don’t understand what this adaptation is all about. Without giving detailed explanations, the council said that the named broadcasters had violated several laws regarding advertising, copyright and ethical norms.

Satellite company Torsat is responsible for distributing Russian TV channels in Ukraine. The company can't understand why the restrictions apply to Russian stations which have international versions and are broadcast on the same terms as many other worldwide channels.

“These stations are broadcast in Europe and all over the planet and there have been no problems in any country. These are channels specifically Russian-speaking viewers. At the same time, I can say that broadcast of the Euronews channel in Ukraine has stayed the same, the Eurosport channel hasn’t changed, but both made it into the list of allowed stations,” said Torsat CEO Anatoly Salnik.

Legal or political?

Given the recent strain in relations between Moscow and Kiev, some see a political motive behind the move. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted with frustration.

“It’s a matter of serious concern for us. Ukraine is a multinational state and those Russian-speaking citizens have the right to use their language and to watch Russian TV channels,” said Grigory Karasin, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister.

Kiev’s political elite have so far failed to comment.

Cable operators in Ukraine are still counting the cost of the ban. But they say insist that regardless of their financial losses, it’s the country’s Russian speakers who will suffer. The number of potential viewers of these stations in Ukraine is around 15 million.

The National Broadcasting Council has been urging cable operators to drop Russian stations from their broadcast schedules for some time. But many have defied the call, saying they’ll continue distributing them until it's properly explained why they shouldn't.

In the meantime, operators believe that the switch-off could be a temporary one, as the National Broadcasting Council is due to meet on November 5 to review the matter.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/32725



http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for
people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

-Noam Chomsky

Quote: Three Russian TV channels have been banned from broadcasting in Ukraine. The country's authorities ordered local cable operators to take them off air.

Hmmm... and they worry about Russia reverting back to its old ways. Nothing like control over the media; it's all down hill from there.

It does not come as a surprise , it is clearly a political move Ukraine tries to gradually disengage herself by the Russian influence for many reasons which have to do   with their pro-Western and in particular pro American foreign policy, their NATO adherence aspirations etc

According to my information Ukraine recently received a loan of the oustanding amount of 16,5 billion dollars, imagine the American economy is creepling but it seems that they have plenty of  money to spend for their future European satellites, they continue to pursue an imperialistic foreign policy and their own people are on the verge of bankruptcy.

ODYSSEUS KILLING THE SUITORS

Ukraine is trying to rewrite history, their history books now turn Russia into an enemy and the likes of Swedes into friends. They dont mention how Ukrainians and Russians were fighting the swedes side by side under Poltava, or that the Ukrainians under their own free will chose alligience to the Russian orthodox church.

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or that the Ukrainians under their own free will chose alligience to the Russian orthodox church.

Russians didn't tell them that they got repressed almost immediately and lost almost all their freedoms and autonomy they had in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. My mother also told me about how little she actually she knew of real history... Moscow gave out books about how the Battle of Grunwald (First Battle of Tannenberg, 1410) was won by Polish-Lithuanian and Russians LOL.
Russians rewrote history far more then Ukrainians ever will...

Siege of Tobruk - One German POW said: "I cannot understand you Australians. In Poland, France, and Belgium, once the tanks got through the soldiers took it for granted that they were beaten. But you are like demons. The tanks break through and your infantry still keep fighting." Rommel wrote of seeing "a batch of some fifty or sixty Australian prisoners ... marched off close behind usimmensely big and powerful men, who without question represented an elite formation of the British Empire, a fact that was also evident in battle."

it makes no importance.

all russian speakers take singal from satelites.



youshenko is become more and more like an authoritarian despot at his end of his rule...
the 3% president cant decide for ukraine.

lol, they had no autonomy with the Poles, they were basically a nice base for the Polish army and it came with the price of the entire goverment being in Polish hands.

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