The EU should take sanction against Russian NTV+ and Trikolor, censors of 8 news channels

PETITION The European Union  must stop transmission of two major Russian platforms NTV Plus and Trikolor by European Eutelsat s atellites  



To

• Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Council of the European Union
• Mr. Charles Michel, President of the European Council
• Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
• Mrs. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
• Mrs. Marija Pejčinović Burić, General Secretary of the Council of Europe
• Mr. Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski Executive Secretary of EUTELSAT IGO
• Mr. Dominique d'Hinnin, Chairman of the Board of Director, Eutelsat SA.
  
  
    ·
  
• Since early March, 8 Western news channels were excluded from transmission through Eutelsat 36E satellites by two Russian leading pay-TV providers, NTV Plus and Trikolor. Those two providers are the main source of news for 25 to 30 % of the Russian population. 
        
• The European Union and the EUTELSAT IGO should take sanctions against those two providers, pretexting that the Western broadcasters have taken the decision to withdraw from the market. 
          
  
• This would liberate capacities for allowing an offer of democratic, pluralist, fair Western channels and possible Russian opposition channels reaching up to 40 % of Russian TV households. 
         
• Around 40 entertainment TV services owned or licensed by 12 international media groups are still licensing their channels to those two Russian operators. They should withdraw from the market in solidarity with the news channels. 

Since the beginning of March, in the context of the war in Ukraine and new restrictions on freedom of expression imposed by the Russian government, two Russian platforms, NTV Plus (part of the Gazprom Media Holding) and Trikolor have excluded from their line-up all the foreign news channels they were still proposing in February: BBC World, CNN, Deutsche Welle (DW), Euronews (in Russian), France 24, NHK World, RAI News 24, TV5 Monde.

Those two pay-TV packagers operate on European satellites at 36°E owned by the company of French law Eutelsat S.A. (ISIN:FR0010221234; Ticker: ETL) and under the rules of the Convention of the intergovernmental organisation EUTELSAT IGO

It is paradoxical and inadmissible that two European satellites are used for the sole broadcasting of Russian channels, which only propagate the official warrior line of the Kremlin and that Western news channels are banned from an infrastructure managed by a company under French law and in the framework of an intergovernmental convention !

These measures are part of a movement to completely restrict freedom of expression in Russia (law of March 4, 2022, organizing the repression of those who publish information contrary to the official version, indictment of journalists and bloggers, arrests mass demonstrators, restrictions on access to social networks, etc.).

The Russian Federation does not honor its international commitments to respect freedom of expression and the free flow of information. It is therefore necessary to find solutions that allow Russian civil society to continue to receive information and the diversity of points of view expressed in the rest of the world. Sanctions taken by the European Union  against NTV Plus and Trikolor would allow Eutelsat to recover satellite capacities at position 36°E, which are estimated to allow access to around 40% of TV households in Russia, and to put them available to Western news channels and televisions created by Russian opponents in exile.

The European Union  and EUTELSAT IGO should also verify that the banning of the Russian war propaganda channel RT decided the 2 of March is respected by all operators. According to various satellite trackers, RT News was still available on Eutelsat 36 E three weeks after the EU decision.

The European Union and the Council of Europe should make available to international news channels the means to provide Russian dubbed or subtitled versions of their services and help possible opposition television projects. Eutelsat should then permit these channels to be uplinked and broadcast on 36°E, thereby providing Russians with greater access to media other than state propaganda.

While 8 foreign news channels were banned from the Russian market at least 39 thematic channels owned or licensed by international media group are still distributed by NTV Plus. In continuing to do “business as usual” with the Gazprom subsidiary, AMC Networks (US), Comcast (US), Disney (US), LFP Inc. (US), ViacomCBS (US), WorldFashion Channel (US) Groupe Arnault (FR), Groupe M6 (FR), Vivendi (FR), Marc Dorcel Netherlands (NL), Mindgeek Holding (LU), Viasat World Limited (GB) contribute to the illusion of media pluralism within Russia.

This petition is launched by the Denis Diderot Committee. The Denis Diderot Committee was created on the initiative of two experts in the field of satellite television and is open to any citizen demanding peace in Ukraine, the restoration of the free flow of information, the prohibition of war propaganda and solidarity with Russian civil society fighting for freedom of expression.


Coordination :
Dr. André Lange, Paris, histv3@gmail.com
Jim Phillipoff, Amsterdam , phillipoff@gmail.com

Website : https://histv3.wixsite.com/denisdiderot

First list of signataires ·

• Daniel & Rachel Barnon, Sleeping Giants (FR)   ·
• Prof. Francis Biesmans, BETA, Université de Lorraine, (FR) ; Attaché de recherche au COEF, Nelson Mandela University, (South Africa).
• Alain Bourges, Video artist, retired teacher (FR)   ·
• Olexandr Burgamin, Member, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine   ·
• Oleg Chernysh, Deputy Chairman, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine   ·
• Prof. Ian Christie, Professor of Film and Media history, Birkbeck College, University of London (UK)   ·
• Wolfgang Closs, former Executive Director of the European Audiovisual Observatory (DE) ​ ·
• Prof. Christian Delporte, Professor of Contemporary History, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)   ·
• Cécile Despringre, Executive Director of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (EU)
• Prof. John Downey, President of the European Communication Research and Education Association, Professor of Comparative Media Analysis at Loughborough University (UK)   ·
• Prof. François Jongen, Professor of Media Law, UCLouvain (BE)
• Dr. Gert Hallenberger,  Media Researcher, Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen and the Grimme-Preis (DE)
• Barbara Hayes, Chair of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (EU), Deputy CEO of ALCS (GB)
• Olha Herasymiuk, Chair, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine
• Markéta Hodouskova, Czech professional in the audiovisual industry, Paris (CZ)
• Isabelle Kersimon, Journalist, Founder of the Institut de recherches et d'études sur les radicalités (INRER), Paris (FR)
• Valentyn Koval, First Deputy Chairman, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine
• André Lange, Former Head of Department at the European Audiovisual Observatory, Scientific collaborator at the University of Liege (BE) ​ ·
• Philippe Lévrier, former Member of French regulatory authority Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (FR) ​ ·
• Arnaud Mercier, Professor of Information-Communication at the à University Paris-Panthéon-Assas, Responsable of the Licence Information Communication, Institut français de Presse (IFP) (FR) ​ ·
• Alain Modot, CEO of DIFFA (Distribution de Films et Fictions Africains) Paris (FR)   ·
• Prof. Gilles Multinger, Professor of Media History, former journalist, University of Madrid (ES)   ·
• Dr. Felix Victor Münch, Postdoc Researcher at Leibniz-Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (DE)   ·
• Olena Nitsko, Executive Secretary, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine   ·
• Maksym Onopriienko, Member, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine   ·
• Richard Paterson, Research Associate, Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow (UK) ​ ·
• Jim Phillipoff, Media specialist and a former CEO of Ukrainian satellite platforms,  former CEO of Kyiv Post Media, Amsterdam ​ ·
• Philippe Reynaert, Film consultant, Xanadu (BE)
• Olga Romanova, Director and Founder of the Rus Sitting Association, Foundation for assistance to convicts and their families, Moscow (RU)
• Tetiana Rudenko, Member, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine
• Dr. Ismo Silvo, Director YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company (FI)
• Dr. Bruno Somalvico, Editor in chief, Democrazia futura (IT)   ·
• Prof. Dick Tomasovic, Professor of film studies, University of Liege (BE)
• Prof. Marc Vanesse, Professor of journalism and deontology of information, University of Liège (BE)   ·
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Joh. Wiesand, ERICarts Institute and Network / ARCult Media GmbH, Köln (DE)
• Yurii Zinevych,  Member, National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine