Russian satellite operators may soon be required to provide access to the 20 main TV channels to the country’s 800,000 homes not reached by DTT services.
According to Kommersant, the Ministry of Communications has prepared amendments to the law “On Communications” which address the distribution of public TV channels by national satellite operators.
They would require the operators to distribute the 20 channels, carried on two multiplexes, indefinitely and free of charge to viewers except for a one-off payment for access to their networks.
DTT services in Russia currently reach all but 1.4% of the population, or 800,000 households, and the latter could prove to be a good new potential audience for DTH operators.
TMT Consulting data shows that pay-TV penetration in Russia in Q2 increased by 0.5% to over 76%, or 43.4 million subscribers.
However, growth in the DTH sector has slowed significantly.
