The National Broadcasting Council adopted three decisions to approve must-carry lists for Ukraine, regional centers (including Kyiv and Sevastopol), and 24 Ukrainian Regions and the Crimea. Those new must-carry lists were featured by the member of the National Broadcasting Council Oleg Chernysh. The must-carry list for Ukraine contains three TV channels like “UA: Pershyi”, “Kultura”, “Rada”, as well as three radio stations like “Ukrainian Radio”, “Kultura” and “Luch”.
The must-carry list for regional centers, Kyiv, and Sevastopol includes TV channels “UA: Perhyi”, “Kultura” and “Rada”, radio stations “Ukrainian Radio”, “Luch”, and “Kultura”, as well as local and regional TV channels engaged in analog and digital terrestrial broadcasting in the regional centers.
The must-carry list for the Regions and the Crimea contains TV channels TV channels “UA: Perhyi”, “Kultura” and “Rada”, radio stations “Ukrainian Radio”, “Luch”, and “Kultura”, as well as local and regional TV channels engaged in analog and digital terrestrial broadcasting in these regions.
In addition, those must-carry lists differ, depending on provider’s technology. For MMDS and MITRIS, there is no must-carry list in view of using a limited radio frequency resource. For DVB-T and Dvb-t2, there is no must-carry list in view of providers’ using a limited radio frequency resource and channels’ licensing on a competitive basis. For OTT, (Internet) and DTH (satellite), it is applied the must-carry list for Ukraine, since these technologies allow for providing services at once all over Ukraine.
For IPTV (cable TV via internet protocol) and digital cable networks, it is applied the must-carry list depending on the licensed area. For analog cable networks, the must-carry list does not include radio stations in view of limited resource of these networks. November 25, the National Broadcasting Council made public its decision accompanied by the corresponding must-carry lists.
The decisions on approval of the must-carry lists were adopted by the National Broadcasting Council in accordance with the recently passed Law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” (Specifying Terms and Conditions for Broadcasts of TV and Radio Companies under the Must-Carry Obligations)”. The National Broadcasting Council’s decisions will enter into force along with the law on 1 January, 2017.
The National Broadcasting Council, however, will ask broadcasters and service providers to accelerate contracting rebroadcasts of TV channels that drop out the must-carry list on 1 January, 2017, in order to avoid “queues” before the New Year. It was announced by the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council Yury Artemenko. Let us recall that on October 6, the Verkhovna Rada passed the law on changing the must-carry list (Draft Law 3504), and on November 3 it was signed by the President of Ukraine. The law also comes into effect on 1 January, 2017.
The law stipulates that the must-carry list comprises TV and radio broadcasts of the public joint-stock company “National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine” (now under establishment on the basis of the National Television Company of Ukraine), the parliamentary TV channel “Rada”, as well as local and regional analog and digital terrestrial TV channels, which broadcast within one region and do not deal with rebroadcasts of other broadcasters and do not hold other licenses for terrestrial broadcasting in other regions.
At the same time, national commercial TV channels are withdrawn from the must-carry list, passing to the contractual relationship with providers.
