The Ukrainian regulator National Council has renewed its retransmission ban on the Russian channel RTVI for a further year.
In a statement, it says that it initially suspended the channel six months ago for repeated violations of the Ukrainian laws On Television and Radio Broadcasting, On Information and On Cinema. Monitoring it carried out last month showed that the channel continued to violate the legislation.
The National Council adds that it repeated appealed to RTVI’s distributor Sonar, as well as Benrose Limited, its rights holder, with written warnings concerning violations of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and Ukrainian law. However, the rights holder said they felt the channel complied with the requirements of the Convention and that the norms of international law have higher legal force than those of Ukraine. Despite this, they would try to adhere to Ukrainian legislation.
Meanwhile, Oleg Pygin, the general director of Sonar, said that his company supported the measures being taken by the regulator against RTVI.
It also informed the National Council that it had ceased cooperating with the rights holder on January 1 this year and will not do so until RTVI adheres to the requirements of Ukrainian legislation.
