Advanced Television

New rules for foreign broadcasters in Kazakhstan

November 29, 2016

By Chris Forrester

All non-Kazakh broadcaster using satellite or cable for distribution in Kazakhstan must now open “representation” offices in the country, according to the country’s Minister of Information and Communications of Kazakhstan Dauren.  Offices have to be opened, or representatives appointed, by January 2017.

“The norms, which oblige every foreign channel to have a representation office in Kazakhstan, will be applied from 2017. This whole autumn I have been meeting heads of [television] offices and channels, including foreign ones. The head of the representation office must be a citizen of Kazakhstan. We will communicate with that specific person,” the minister said at a meeting with representatives of the Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan, and reported by BBC Monitoring.

Abayev raised the issue of Kazakh people using “grey dishes” or satellite antennas transmitting only foreign content. “We are conducting specific work in this area, including the legislative part. We understand that in case we restrict the “grey dishes” while they, for instance, broadcast English Premier League, then we will have to offer the national channels, cable and satellite operators an opportunity to acquire rights for broadcasting the Premier League. This, in turn, leads to a large amount of additional work: commentators’ work, quality of the picture and broadcast. We are carrying out work in all these areas,” Abayev added.

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