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Photo: UA
The Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus has banned broadcasting of two Ukrainian TV channels on the territory of the country, including the Ukrainian international TV channel “UA” in Russian, which together with the TV channel “DOM” is a part of the State Enterprise “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine”. This decision was announced by the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus on July 6.
“The basis for the decision was the violation of the current legislation in the part concerning the specialization of foreign media. On the air of Ukrainian TV programs, advertisements were found that were not declared upon receipt of broadcasting permits”, – the Belarusian ministry said in a statement.
In this regard, we declare that this statement on the part of the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus is unreliable – the Ukrainian foreign broadcasting TV channel under the logo “UA” as well as the TV channel “DOM” for the temporarily occupied territories, don’t have advertising blocks or other types of advertising messages on the air. Both channels receive content from a single newsroom, which is guided by the charter of the State Enterprise “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine” and the Code of Journalistic Ethics.
We link the ban on broadcasting of the Ukrainian TV channel “UA” with the attempt of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime to strengthen censorship in Belarus, forbid its citizens to learn news in Russian from Ukraine. Unfortunately, the fight against journalists, persecution of the media and the opposition are the realities of today’s Belarus.
At the same time, the journalistic staff of both TV channels, “UA” and “DOM”, continues to work for audiences in Belarus in the format of Ukrainian foreign broadcasting. We will not back down from the idea of opening our own office in Minsk and will continue to build up opportunities for expanding the broadcast coverage of the territory of Belarus. We, as the editorial office, consider it important to maintain contact with the Belarusian audience. We are increasing the amount of content about the situation in Belarus. The ban on speech announced by the Lukashenko regime is unlikely to affect the availability of our content – we observe a growing number of requests from the territory of Belarus to both the website and our YouTube channels.
“Before the ban, “UA” was broadcast on 32 cable networks, which is quite a large coverage indicator. We know that there is a great need for honest Russian-language news in Belarus, because it has always been listed among 5 countries in terms of the number of views on our digital platforms. We saw a certain surge in the activity of viewers last year – during the protests in Minsk and other cities of the country after the presidential elections. Stories about peaceful protests in the republic, detention of activists, disappearances of people were watched by hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube and Facebook. And now the main thing for us is that Belarusian viewers have the opportunity to continue watching the content of “UA” and “DOM” TV channels, and learn the true information about what is happening in Ukraine and the world. We remain close to our audience, we continue our broadcast via the Hotbird 13 satellite; online broadcasting is available through the “UA” TV channel’s website; our content can also be found on YouTube,” – Yulia Ostrovska, Director General of the SE “IBMPU”, commented on the decision of the Ministry of Information of Belarus.
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About TV channel “UA”
“UA” is a Russian-language TV channel of the state foreign broadcasting of Ukraine, addressed to a wide foreign audience and is designed to convey objective, relevant and interesting information from Ukraine and about Ukraine to the world.
“UA” produces its own programs about current events in Ukraine and its temporarily occupied territories, about the course of economic reforms, achievements in science and culture, about famous Ukrainians and brave contemporaries, about our history, amazing nature and tourist routes.
The “UA” TV channel covers almost 60 countries via satellite.
Through cable operators we broadcast in: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Canada, USA, Germany, Latvia, Moldova, Poland.
About TV channel “DOM”
“DOM” started broadcasting on March 1, 2020 in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in order to objectively inform Ukrainians in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and return them to the Ukrainian agenda.
Starting March 1, 2021, TV channel “DOM” has significantly expanded its coverage: it began satellite broadcasting, increased the number of digital and analog transmitters and appeared in the cable networks of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (in the controlled territory). Besides, since March 1, online broadcasting of all programs is available on the channel’s website in the player.
Official web-site: https://kanaldom.tv/
Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kanalDOM
