The Russian parliament (Duma) is set to approve a major change to legislation prohibiting commercials on cable and satellite channels within the next few days.
According to Gazeta and AKTR, amendments to the bill, which entered force on January 1, could result in the ban been lifted for channels with Russian content by the end of the month.
In discussing the proposed amendments, Olga Timofeeva, a member of the State Committee on Information Policy, IT and Communications, referred to “national media product”, which has been created by journalists or production companies funded by Russian domestic investors.
Timofeeva said that the changes to the law would help independent, non-state TV channels broadcast via cable or satellite the chance to survive.
