Berlin forces EU satellite operator to take RT’s German TV broadcast off air
December 22, 2021
European satellite operator Eutelsat 9Đ’ has removed the 24-hour German-language RT DE channel from its platform under pressure from Berlin. RT has called the move illegal.
German media regulator MABB (Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg) has forced European satellite service Eutelsat 9B to remove the broadcast of RT's new Moscow-based German-language channel RT DE from its platform on Wednesday.
“It is inappropriate for the German regulator, MABB, to overreach and ignore the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, under which it is subject, thereby forcing Eutelsat to remove RT DE from the carrier solely due to the unsubstantiated and factually flawed claims of the German regulator,” RT’s press service pointed out.
“We believe this amounts to illegal pressure and are confident this action will be redressed by the courts. We will be seeking all possible remedies against the German regulator, and our audience can continue to access our content across multiple platforms and online,” it said.
Eutelsat covers Central and Eastern Europe, being especially popular among Germans. The Paris-based company said it acted in response to an address by Berlin and the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services, who insisted that RT DE’s broadcast must be curbed.
RT DE signal is originating in Serbia. The channel has received a broadcasting license on December 6, 2021, and it is valid through 2029.
While Serbia is not a member of the EU, both Belgrade and Berlin are signatories of the European Convention of Transfrontier Television (ECTT). Germany ratified the treaty in 1991, while Serbia has been a party to it since 2010.
Article 4 of the ECTT says the parties “shall guarantee freedom of reception and shall not restrict the retransmission on their territories of programme services which comply with the terms of this Convention.”
RT expressed confidence that the court will annul Berlin's decision, and RT DE will again be made available to Eutelsat clients.
RT’s German-language channel can now be watched via SmartTV, the RT News app, and RT DE’s official website (https://de.rt.com/livetv/).
RT DE started broadcasting last week from its studio in Moscow. Just hours after the launch, YouTube deleted the channel’s page, saying it was created in violation of earlier restrictions that had been placed on the outlet.
In September, two of RT DE’s channels were removed from YouTube due to what the platform claimed was a violation of community guidelines.
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