CNN re-applies for Russian licence
February 17, 2015
By Chris Forrester
CNN has applied to Russia’s media authority for a licence to allow its transmissions to be carried within the country. CNN exited Russia at the end of last year, although said at the time it intended to formally re-apply under Russia’s new media law.
Vadim Ampelonskiy, press-secretary at regulator Roskomnadzor, said February 17th: “We have received an application from the TV channel CNN International to obtain a universal licence to broadcast in Russia. Under the law, we have 30 days to examine the application, but, most likely, the department will not require that much time to reach a decision. The documents will be studied, they will undergo the required procedures, and then a decision will be taken.”
According to a statement from Roskomnadzor, senior officials from the regulator and executives from CNN held a meeting on January 27th, at which both sides “expressed a mutual interest in the resumption of CNN International broadcasts in Russia, and discussed the legal possibilities for this”.
BBC Monitoring quoted Russian news agency Interfax saying that Mikhail Fedotov, head of Russia’s presidential human rights council, welcomed the news. “We’re always in support of the news domain being as broad as possible,” Fedotov said. “Pluralism in news is one of the conditions for the development of democracy.”