The leading Estonian cable operator Starman has dropped the Russian channel PBK from its programme offer.
According to Starman, the reason for doing so is the decision of the Baltic Copyright and Broadcasting Union, which acts as an intermediary between Russian TV channels and Estonian cable companies, to increase its fees by 300%.
In Starman’s view, this is unacceptable in the current economic climate. Russian channels are a key component of the TV landscape in Estonia, where around a third of the population are ethnic Russian, and Starman has promised to replace PBK, a version of the leading Russian station Channel One, with both NTV Mir and the Hunting & Fishing Channel.