The Ukrainian regulator National Council has issued a warning to Inter and STB, two of the country’s leading broadcasters, for showing films with actors “who pose a threat to national security”.
In a statement, it says that its action follows unscheduled inspections of the broadcasters that were conducted at the request of the Security Service of Ukraine. It relates to the transmission of films broadcast in December and January 2018 that included such actors.
Legal representatives for Inter and STB nevertheless argued that no offence was committed as current legislation allows for the transmission of films if they were produced before 1991 (i.e the Soviet era).
While the films shown by Inter and STB fell into this category, the deputy chairman of the National Council countered by saying that for some reason the broadcasters decided to show a large number of such films and had to be reminded of their social responsibility to society.
Meanwhile, Yuriy Artemenko, the chairman of the National Council, said that the regulator has repeatedly called on broadcasters to review their content, but these calls have not been heard.
As a result there are now blacklists and the next step could be the prohibition of co-productions with Russia.
