Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a bill on April 2 that bans the broadcast of Russian films on television. The legislation, which parliament debated and revised for six months, gives channels two months to substitute the newly prohibited content.
The law contains three bans.
The first prohibits movies, including television series and programs
“that glorify the government,” military, law enforcement and other “punitive
agencies of the aggressor state … that were made since August 1, 1991.”
Another is a prohibition on all Russian movies made since January 1,
2014, almost two months before Russia invaded Ukrainian’s Crimean peninsula.
The third measure forbids the broadcast of movies with actors who pose a
national security threat with their actions or public statements. The list of
actors will be approved and published by a special commission of the State Film
Agency of Ukraine. Soviet films will continue to be broadcast as in the past in
order to avoid angering nostalgic, older audiences.
“I want to congratulate everyone, because from now on the Russian propaganda
that distorts our history and glorifies the aggressor will disappear from our
screens,” parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman wrote on his Facebook page on
March 18 after signing the bill.
However, the law may cause difficulties for television companies.
According to research by the civic organization Vidsich, three channels – NTN,
Ukraina, and Inter – air 10-12 hours of Russian content per day. They, and
others, now face the problem of finding content to fill the gaps that will also
maintain and support their ratings.
Ukrainian lawmaker Mykola Kniazhytsky, co-author of the bill and founder
of the Espreso television channel, told the Kyiv Post that Russian broadcasting
may be easily substituted with cheaper American or European programming. In his
opinion, the channels with overwhelming Russian content kept afloat with money
from oligarchs, not by viewer demand.
The patriotic attitude among Ukrainians has changed viewer preferences
recently. One episode in 2014 of a Russian television program cost
$60,000-$80,000, StarLightMedia CEO Volodymyr Borodyanskyi told news website
Liga.Business. It has since dropped to $15,000 – $30,000. StarLightMedia is
billionaire Viktor Pinchuk’s media holding, which includes Noviy Kanal, ICTV
and STB channels.
But American and European television programs are still cheaper and can
cost as little as $5,000-$10,000 per episode, said Konstiantyn Striukov, the
head of the advertising agency Vizeum, cited by Forbes.ua.
This may give Ukraine an impetus to alters which way its television
market leans from Russian to Western, as well as to produce and broadcast more
of its own products.
Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, the vice prime minister and culture minister, has
started negotiations with Polish filmmakers such as Krzysztof Zanussi, to borrow from their experiences
in reforming Polish television.
“For its part, the state will back those channels that invest in their
own production,” Milan Lelich said, Kyrylenko’s spokesperson said.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at r[email protected].
