The 1+1 media group is concerned about the shutdown of television broadcasting in two regions of Ukraine
On March 20-21, 2019, a number of districts of Sumy and Poltava regions were completely disconnected from digital, radio and the rest of analog broadcasting in a peculiar, selective way. In particular, in the Sumy region, the transmitters of the Concern for Radio Broadcasting, Radio Communications and Television (KRRT) in the town of Bilopylla on the border with Russia, which carry out analog broadcasting of the TV channels "1+1" and " UA : First", as well as digital transmitters for broadcasting, were turned off. 32 channels and a radio transmitter. At the same time, transmitters broadcasting the so-called "pro-presidential" channels continue to work in Sumy. The situation is similar in the Poltava region, where due to the disconnection of KRRT transmitters in the village of Digital broadcasting of all TV channels in Krasnohorivka has been suspended.
The 1+1 media group believes that the shutdown of digital broadcasting in certain regions, as well as analog broadcasting in regions bordering the Russian Federation, 10 days before the presidential elections, is an unacceptable and manipulative step that deprives some Ukrainians of the opportunity to receive information and alternative points of view and strengthens the information influence on Ukraine by the aggressor state. In particular, yesterday, March 21, the population of the regions cut off from television did not have the opportunity to watch the socio-political talk show "The Right to Power" on the TV channel "1+1", today some Ukrainians will be left without television news.
In the current situation, indignation is caused by the inability of the state to provide citizens of Ukraine with the constitutional right to access to information and to transparently regulate the issue of television broadcasting. After all, the official cause of the incident is the lack of an agreed cost of services between the state KRRT and the provider of digital broadcasting LLC "Zeonbud" - a company with an opaque structure and ownership hidden among the offshores. This led to the formation of a several-month debt of KRRT to private energy companies, mostly under the control of DTEK, which resulted in the blackout of electricity to TV towers of KRRT. The misunderstanding between the state concern and the private "Zeonbud" dates back to the fall of 2018, when analog broadcasting was turned off almost throughout Ukraine. At the same time, broadcasters, in particular, the 1+1 media group, timely pay Zeonbud LLC for broadcasting a digital signal. During this period, the state did not find any options to ensure the population's continuous and equal access to information and, obviously, will not be able to guarantee it on the eve of the elections.
The 1+1 media group has repeatedly expressed concern and warned of such a possible development, when in April 2018 President Petro Poroshenko ordered the Ministry of Information Policy to turn off the analog air under an accelerated scheme. Therefore, together with the disconnection of analog television, full control over television broadcasting in Ukraine ended up in the hands of the private "Zeonbud" with unclear final beneficiaries - Cypriots.
Also yesterday, March 21, there was a short-term disconnection of all 1+1 media group channels on the OLL.TV online service, which is managed by the Vega telecommunications company of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM holding, with the removal of all 1+1 media channel logos from the service. Once the outage was recorded, the "technical difficulties" highlighted by OLL.TV were promptly resolved.
The 1+1 media group regards all these events as a purposeful action aimed at limiting the public's access to information during the election campaign, the consequence of which is, among other things, the strengthening of informational influence on the part of the aggressor state, and asks diplomatic representations and representations of international organizations in Ukraine to pay attention to this is attention and to prevent manipulation and violation of the constitutional right of citizens of Ukraine to have free access to information.
