Roskomnadzor has approved CNN’s application for a broadcast licence barely two months after the channel exited the Russian market.
Quoted by the Moscow Times and RBC, the regulator’s spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky said that CNN will receive the licence in the near future.
CNN announced last November that it would stop broadcasting in Russia at the beginning of this year due to upcoming changes in the regulatory environment.
These saw a ban on commercials on cable and satellite channels come into effect on January 1 this year, while all Russian-registered media, including broadcasters, will have their foreign ownership capped at 20% by 2017.
However, the commercial ban has since been amended, with cable and satellite channels allowed to carry advertising if they have a minimum 75% Russian content.
It was at that point that CNN decided to effectively re-enter the Russian market by applying for a licence.
