Viasat denies Ukrainian charges

Viasat has refuted the findings of an unscheduled inspection of its output in Ukraine by the country’s National Council on TV and Radio.

ProIT and Telekritikareport that the council found Vision TV, which provides satellite TV services in Ukraine under the Viasat brand, was retransmitting the Russian TV channels Rossiya 24, RTR- Planeta and TV Center, as well as distributing a total of 129 channels, rather than the 73 specified in its licence.

One of these channels was the promotional channel Viasat.

In response, Oksana Ferchuk, the deputy director of Vision TV, said that due to the lack of activity by the council in the last six months the company had been unable to apply for any licence renewals.

She also categorically denied the company was relaying any Russian channels in Ukraine, with RTR-Planeta having been withdrawn on March 26 and the others never having been carried.

Ferchuk also said that Viasat was the most obedient satellite operator in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Gregorij Shverk, the council’s deputy chairman, said that its goal was not to punish Viasat.

Ukrainian boost for Viasat

Triolan, Ukraine’s second largest cable operator, is again distributing Viasat channels.

Its portfolio now includes four movie channels (TV1000, TV1000 Action, TV1000 Comedy and TV1000 Russian Kino), three factual channels (Viasat History, Viasat Nature and Viasat Explorer) and Viasat Sport, which have been made available to all Triolan subscribers.

Commenting on the development, Andrey Burenok, country manager of Viasat Ukraine, said: “We are proud that our movie, factual and sports channels will once again be available to Triolan’s subscribers.. We consider Triolan a sound partner that we can work together with in developing the pay-TV market in Ukraine.”

Triolan last carried Viasat channels in 2012.

Local reports say that Triolan is now in talks with Russia’s NTV-Plus.

If successful, they could result in the operator’s offer increasing to over 100 pay channels by the end of this year.