TV channel does not understand the operator’s position.
The Moscow Arbitration Court registered a lawsuit filed against “Muz-TV” by the Russian operator “Rostelecom”. The telecom company claims to recover RUB 151 million from the TV channel, as the “Vedomosti” informs.
As the “Rostelecom”’s speaker informed the edition, the operator went to the law in order to meet the case of “Muz-TV”’s debt under the contract providing the TV channel with access to the company’s networks. Let us remark that the agreement was signed as early as in 2012. But since that time the “Muz-TV”’s signal became available only to the cable TV subscribers, and its terrestrial frequencies were passed to the operation of TV channel “U” (both incorporated in the media holding UTV).
Also, the operator’s speaker said that “Muz-TV” was to make the final payment before June 1 of present year, as specified in that agreement. But since the TV channel failed to do it, “Rostelecom” had to file a lawsuit.
According to Andrey Dimitrov, CEO at UTV Media Holding, the contract with “Rostelecom” was divided into monetary and barter components amounting to RUB 491 and 500 million respectively. The first part of commitments was fully met by the holding. But during the fulfillment of the second one, when the volume of ads aired on TV channels amounted to RUB 349 million, the operator terminated the contract unilaterally and called for paying the remaining amount in money. “Muz-TV” was set against it. Dimitrov also states that the channel remains within the second digital multiplex as of late 2013, so its signal is to be distributed for free by all pay-TV operators. Therefore, the above vision of “Rostelecom” is incomprehensible to him.
Let us remark that this is the third lawsuit filed against the TV channel “Muz-TV” by “Rostelecom” under that agreement. In September 2015, it filed a claim for RUB 117 million. In April this year, “Rostelecom” was eager to sue “Muz-TV” for RUB 8.2 million, but that lawsuit was thrown out.
Let us recall that earlier, the Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS) also went to the law in order to recover RUB 664 million from the channel “Muz-TV”. However, in February this year, they signed a settlement agreement, and the channel paid RUB 216.7 million to the state-owned operator.
