European Commission approves three-month ban of Russian TV station “RTR Planeta”
by Jonas Rusche
The Lithuanian radio and television commission (RTLC) suspended the Russian language channel “RTR Planeta” for three months, from 21November 2016 to 21 February 2017. Four days before the suspension period was over, the European Commission (EC) decided that this action was in line with the EU-level “Audiovisual Media Services Directive” (AVMSD).
The EC’s decision came after the TV channel had complained to Lithuanian authorities about the suspension. The case related to three programmes “RTR Planeta”, broadcast from Sweden to Lithuania, aired between November 2015 and October 2016.
Statements in these programmes “partly related to an ongoing military confrontation involving…
