CNN to quit Russia
November 11, 2014
By Chris Forrester
BBC Monitoring is reporting that CNN is to leave Russia at the end of the year. Reportedly CNN’s local MD has sent a letter to assorted cable and DTH broadcasters saying: “With this letter we inform you that Turner is stopping the distribution of the CNN International television channel on the territory of the Russian Federation from 31 December 2014”.
CNN is distributed in Russia on the cable and satellite networks of operators of subscription television such as Akado, Vympelkom, NTV and others.
Russian news agency TASS says that cable operators Akado and Vympelkom had confirmed to TASS that they had received CNN’s letter. “Yes, we received the letter. We hope that next year the channel will broadcast on the territory of Russia again,” Vympelkom’s press service said.
Roskomnadzor [the Russian Federal Service for Supervision in Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Communications] insists it has had nothing to do with the stopping of broadcasts by CNN International on Russian cable networks, a Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonskiy has told TASS.
A CNN spokesperson in London, in a statement, said: “Turner International is assessing its distribution options for CNN in Russia in light of recent changes in Russian media legislation. We are bringing our existing distribution relationships to an end while we do that. We hope to re-enter the market in due course, and will notify our partners of any update about resuming these services. The CNN Moscow bureau operation remains unaffected.”