Duma backs bill to return ads to pay TV channels with majority Russian content

A bill lifting the ban on advertising on pay TV in Russia has been passed, allowing commercials to be screened on paid television whose content is at least 75% backed by Russian investors.

The new bill, passed in the State Duma this week, was designed by United Party politician Olga Timofeyeva, and reverses the initial ban signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in July last year which saw commercials banned on paid TV from 1 January 2015.

Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told RT: “I have no doubt that Mr President will pay due attention to this initiative by the Popular Front in order to render some help to cable TV stations broadcasting through cable networks that are right now facing very serious financial problems in their activities”.

Since the law was passed last summer, media experts have commented that the ban, which became effective this January, could threaten a number of local Russian TV channels who rely on advertising to stay afloat. Suggesting that the initial decision to ban advertising on pay TV was a political tool to disarm independent media, Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council spoke out against the law last year, claiming that the amendment will monopolise the television advertising market and lead to an inevitable increase in subscription fees and the closure of numerous channels.

The legal u-turn marks the latest in a string of legislative backpedalling in Russia. Last week, a controversial law banning the use of profanity in the arts was reversed, just days after the bill seeking a ban on films which “threaten national unity” was revoked.

The new bill also stipulates that pay TV channels will be allowed to advertise commercials so long as the number of foreign shows and films screened do not exceed 25% of their total content. The development has sparked concern that cultural isolationism in Russia is on the rise, and that the push to deter foreign investment in Russian media — accelerated by a law enacted in September last year limiting foreign shareholding in Russian media to 25% — is still under way.

The new bill will come into effect after being approved by the upper house of the Russian parliament, and will ultimately be signed into law by the president.