The independent TV channel Sun has made a direct appeal to the president of Ukraine.
In a letter published on its Facebook page and in local media, it says that it is “not owned or controlled by any financial-industrial group, political force or “oligarch”, has not supported and does not support any political party”. Furthermore, it does not “try to “form public opinion” or impose a certain ideology on the audience. Only objective news and entertainment content are on our air.
“We are forced to turn to you by the situation on the television market, which has recently been rapidly evolving towards the “cleansing” of the media space from independent broadcasters like us.
“Several media groups have made a coordinated decision to encode their signal and are trying to get independent broadcasters to follow suit. The purpose of these media groups is to limit the access of viewers to the free satellite signal and to redistribute the television audience in their favour.
“In the last few months, we have been receiving notifications from our telecommunications partners and software service providers (cable operators) about pressure from large media groups. Using their levers of influence, these representatives are forcing providers to exclude the Sun TV channel from their networks. Otherwise, “disobedient” providers will be deprived of the rights to retransmit the channels of these media groups”.
Sun argues that this is being done as it has decided to deliver its channel for free to viewers. It also says pressure is being brought to bear on it and other independent channels to encrypt their services.
Sun adds that “in the current economic climate, the less Ukrainian channels broadcast on the satellite in unencrypted form, the more our viewers watch foreign satellite channels. Including those used for anti-Ukrainian propaganda. For the sake of their narrow business interests, the so-called “market leaders” not only ignore the rule of law and despise fair competition, but also risk Ukraine’s information security.
“We are convinced that a level playing field and healthy competition should prevail in the market. A free competitive environment is one of the cornerstones of an efficient economy, and in the media sphere today it is also a matter of national security. Arbitrariness and lawlessness in the media market of Ukraine is an extremely dangerous and alarming situation for the state”.
It concludes by asking the president to take all measures available, “to protect the information space of Ukraine, the right of viewers to access information and to preserve the possibility of existence on the television market for Ukrainian independent broadcasters”.
