The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting is to discuss whether Inter TV channel broke the law during its New Year's Eve line-up show, at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 15, 2015, the Telekritika publication has reported, referring to Council Chairman Yuriy Artemenko.
He said that the agenda of the meeting has not been formed, but taking into account the furore surrounding Inter TV channel’s New Year’s Eve line-up, it is likely that council members will consider the monitoring results of New Year’s Eve broadcasting from different national channels.
“At the latest meeting I ordered that all national channels should be monitored. I warned everyone who wants to broadcast Putin’s greeting. But I can’t imagine even in a bad dream what Inter TV channel would broadcast. It’s one thing when TV channels cannot quickly stop broadcasting Russian soap operas, as they were bought for a year, and they chose between patriotism and business. Here all channels have a chance to prepare for New Year’s Eve beforehand,” Artemenko said.
“I want to invite public figures, representatives of TV channels, the parliamentary freedom of speech committee and National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) not only to tackle the situation, but also to draw conclusions,” he said.
“You should understand that the National Council cannot simply decide to strip the channel of its license. Only the courts could do this, and only after a long-term procedure,” he said.
