A number of Lithuanian cable operators have decided to defy a one-year ban on the retransmission of the Russian language channel RTR Planeta.
According to Baltic Times, they are continuing to air a different version of the channel and doubt that the ban applies to this version.
Quoting Mantas Martisius, the deputy chairman of the regulator LRTK, it adds that the majority of 48 TV service providers informed the LRTK that they had been rebroadcasting the Swedish-registered version of RTR Planeta, which is the subject of the ban. However, five said that they were rebroadcasting the version registered in Russia and had not stopped doing so on Friday, February 23, the deadline set by the LRTK.
Although Lithuania’s leading operators are respecting the ban, they have asked the LRTK for clarification and if they can start to distribute the Russian-registered version of the channel.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, LRTK decided to suspend the retransmission of RTR Planeta due to repeated violations of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive and Lithuania’s Law on Public Information.
