The 1+1 media group is surprised by the adoption of this decision at this time and the arguments stated in the appeal. Since 2017, media groups have regularly informed about plans to code TV channels and have repeatedly drawn the attention of responsible state institutions to this, since September 2019 a large-scale information campaign has been launched among the population, and satellite platforms have taken care of delivering tuners in the required quantity.
For over 25 years, the 1+1 media group has been making efforts to ensure that Ukrainian viewers have the opportunity to watch high-quality content from both domestic and foreign production and feel all the advantages of high-quality television. For many years, high-quality television content has been available for viewing via satellite signal for free due to the illegal actions of pirate services and individuals who illegally accessed channels encoded with an outdated encoding system. However, such actions not only violated the rights of copyright holders, who have obligations regarding territorial restrictions on the distribution of their content, but also led to the media group losing funds from subscribers who consume it illegally, depriving channels of the opportunity to direct them to the development of Ukrainian television.
In this situation, we believe it is necessary:
1. To appeal to the President of Ukraine with a request to hear arguments also from the media group, copyright holders, satellite platforms and all interested parties through open discussion.
2. To provide comments on the essence of the appeal:
- a moratorium cannot be imposed on the coding of channels due to the fact that the presence of coding is prescribed as a mandatory condition in the licenses issued to channels by the state regulator
- on January 28, 2020, the channels changed the type of coding to one that excludes unauthorized access to encoded channels and meets the requirements of content copyright holders
- a moratorium cannot apply to an action that has already taken place
- coding does not provide for reverse technical possibility - most channels have changed the signal modulation to DVBS2, after which 50-70% of satellite subscribers, even after decoding the signal, will not have the technical ability to receive it.
3. Asks politicians and public figures not to manipulate the issue of national information security, since it is the open satellite that is an uncontrolled way of broadcasting channels and access of citizens to Russian channels. Coding helps to move viewers into the field of safe television space, where they will not be subjected to propaganda messages. We also emphasize that to meet the needs of viewers in access to relevant and truthful information, not only state channels, whose free broadcasting is the obligation of the state, but also other information channels, remain open. For the same purpose, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine is launching a separate TV channel that will broadcast throughout the border territory and be filled with content from the media group.
We also recall that similar problems existed when analog broadcasting was turned off, which the 1+1 media group repeatedly noted, and during this time the state should resolve the issue of sufficient coverage with free digital terrestrial TV in certain regions. However, based on the text of the appeal, it becomes obvious that the installation of the necessary number of transmitters to resolve the problem of ensuring T2 signal coverage was not a priority.