Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov invited regional broadcasters to unite

UFA, 24 January 2019. /Bashinform News Agency/ translated by Tatiana Aksyutina/.

The head of Roskomnadzor (Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications), Alexander Zharov, arrived in the republic on a working visit. In particular, the Acting Head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, discussed with him the technological issues of the regional BST channel operation after the transition to digital broadcasting. Communicating with the press, the head of the Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications noted that “a solution to the digital future for regional broadcasting is now being actively sought and it will be found”. The republic’s readiness to transfer to the “digital”, which is scheduled for June, was assessed by the federal official as high: “no problems are expected”.

As for the municipal channels, here the head of Roskomnadzor marked some difficulties.

“They exist not in every region, so it is difficult to automatically assign a certain button to them. In four regions the competition for the 21st button for regional channels did not even take place - there was no own television there. Further, only four urban channels operate with a fully own program in the country. Mainly from 2 to 6 hours of own broadcasting are produced, the rest is purchased content”, he said.

“After a few years, the viewers will not care what medium they receive the product from - cable, analog, digital or the Internet, because modern devices are made like that. And the one who provides more high-quality content will win. It seems to me that the way out of this situation is in combining the efforts of regional broadcasters. The regions where this happens will definitely win”, the head of Roskomnadzor noted.

Alexander Zharov also took part in a meeting on the safety of citizens on the Internet. It was conducted by the head of the republic, Radiy Khabirov, attended by representatives of social, law-enforcement ministries and departments.