Netflix is to include Russian state channels in its program. However, because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the streaming service refuses and could therefore be switched off.
In Russia, broadcasters and services that are registered with the media supervisory authority Roskomnadzor are obliged to include Russian state broadcasters in their programs if they are of a certain size.
Netflix opposes war in Ukraine
More precisely, this applies to all programs and services with a broadcasting license that have more than 100,000 users a day. The streaming giant easily achieves this and is supposed to broadcast the programs of a total of 20 state broadcasters in Russia, including “Channel One”, “NTV” and “Spas”. Netflix was informed of this in December 2021 by the media regulator Roskomnadzor. The switch should take place in March 2022. But the streaming service does not comply with this request, as a spokesman according to “Politico.com” clarifies: “Due to the current situation [Krieg in der Ukraine, Anm. d. Redaktion] we have no plans to add these channels to our programming.
Netflix could lose broadcasting license in Russia
The possible consequences for the streaming giant are relatively clear. If Roskomnadzor is opposed, Netflix can also expect to have its broadcasting license revoked in Russia. The “Deutsche Welle” recently had to find out that this is quite likely. The German foreign broadcaster was banned from broadcasting a few weeks ago. This was Russia’s response to Germany’s refusal to grant a broadcasting license for the state broadcaster RT DE.
This case makes it clear that Russia is not hesitating. There are around a million Netflix users in the country. With around 144 million inhabitants, this is only a small part. For comparison: In Germany, the streaming service has over 10 million users with around 83 million inhabitants.
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