Ukraine Finds Sat TV Solution

Media Group Ukraine (MGU) has issued a statement following a meeting of media group leaders with the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

In it they discussed, as previously reported by Broadband TV News, calls for a moratorium on the encryption of satellite TV channels that took place at the end of January.

In the statement, MGU says it welcomes “the strategic solution developed during the constructive dialogue. Measures coordinated with industry representatives will solve the problem of access of Ukrainians to the content of national TV channels.

“The Xtra TV satellite operator, which is part of MGU, has already been tasked with developing a social package with a minimum subscription fee for socially disadvantaged groups.

“The head of state agreed with the representatives of media groups that by March 16, 2020, four unencrypted international versions of national TV channels will be launched. That is, each media group will make available to Ukrainian viewers for two years an international version of one of its TV channels, thus making television accessible to viewers throughout Ukraine, including the occupied ones, and the transition to a paid viewing model will be smooth and comfortable for TV audiences.

“MGU launched the unencrypted national news channel Ukraine 24 in 2019, which is available for viewing via HotBird, Astra and Eutelsat 9B satellites not only in Ukraine but also in Europe and North America”.

It concludes by saying: “We, MGU, believe that strategic protection of the country’s information security requires, first and foremost, the access of Ukrainian viewers to verified and up-to-date information about events in the country”. Broadband TV News