The international NGO Reporters Without Borders, guided by an investigation by a group of human rights activists, is demanding that the French broadcasting regulator (Arcom) ban the French satellite operator Eutelsat from broadcasting the signal of the main Russian state channels. Reporters Without Borders emphasizes that Eutelsat plays a critical role in spreading Kremlin propaganda, reaching more than 15 million homes in European Russia (and that, in turn, is half of Russia's TV audience).
We are talking about the largest federal channels that spread false information about the war in Ukraine and call for the genocide of the Ukrainian people – first of all, these are Rossiya-1, Channel One and NTV. The broadcast package also includes the Zvezda channel, the content of which is formed by the Ministry of Defense.
It is worth noting that the largest shareholder of Eutelsat is the French state, which owns 22.65% of the shares through the state-owned investment bank BPI France. The company is also directly connected with the Russian authorities: its Cypriot subsidiary is run by the son of the former Russian ambassador to France. Meanwhile, France is earning tens of millions of euros from cooperation with Russian TV providers: since the invasion of Ukraine, Eutelsat's turnover in Russia has even increased year-on-year and reached 78 million euros (mainly due to revenue from television broadcasts).
According to the company itself, its two satellites, Eutelsat 36B and Eutelsat 36C, cover half of the households in Russia and the CIS with access to television, and thus form the main satellite broadcast coverage of the region. Two more satellites, Express AT1 and Express AT2, cover the rest of Russia, including Siberia and the Far East. Broadcasting from satellites is carried out on about 15 million dishes of two providers: Tricolor and NTV +. These two Eutelsat customers carry over 300 TV channels and 50 radio stations. In addition to the Russian Federation, they are broadcast in the occupied territories of Ukraine and even in Europe: subscribers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can get access to them "under the counter".
Despite the apparent diversity, these platforms recently excluded eight international news channels from their broadcast package, including BBC World, CNN, Deutsche Welle, France 24 and TV5 Monde, allegedly at the request of Roskomnadzor. However, the regulator did not revoke the licenses of any of these channels in Russia.
Providers broadcast propaganda throughout Russia, in the occupied regions of Ukraine and even in Europe
The state-owned channels Rossiya-1 and Channel One, as well as NTV, which is owned by Gazprom and therefore controlled by the state, have the largest audience in the country. In its more than 200 page report, the activist group Denis Diderot Committee cites dozens of statements and snippets from three TV channels that glorify Russia's invasion of Ukraine and spread Kremlin propaganda, especially in terms of inciting hatred against the Ukrainian people. The analysis clearly illustrates the dominance of channels in the television market and their influence as sources of information for other media and social networks. Most of the statements included in the report are taken from the highest rated programs.
In addition to satellite broadcasting services for domestic Russian consumption, Eutelsat also provides open broadcasting of six Russian channels, in particular RT Arabic, in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
According to human rights activists, the actions of Eutelsat, which provides technical assistance to the apparatus of Russian propaganda for war and genocide, are morally unacceptable and contradict the strategic alliance of France and Europe with Ukraine.
Previously, the "Denis Diderot Committee" sent out numerous appeals to representatives of the European and French authorities, but received only one response on the merits.
In addition, the activists have drawn up a petition to the European authorities demanding that sanctions be imposed on a company that distributes Russian propaganda. They are calling for Russia's two main commercial TV providers to be disconnected from Eutelsat satellites and the freed up capacity to be used for broadcasting independent Russian and European broadcast media. At the time of publication, the petition has collected about 2,500 signatures.
Meanwhile, Eutelsat management sees no problem in its approach to business. In early May, Eutelsat's managing director, Eva Bernecke, said the company intends to maintain a "principle of neutrality" with regard to the political conflict in which Russia is involved (the word "war" never came up). She also stressed that the decision to terminate relations with Russian providers remains at the discretion of the French authorities.
You can sign a petition to stop broadcasting Russian propaganda via Eutelsat satellites here .