RSF "formally seized the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication" (ex-CSA) on Thursday "to ask it to give formal notice to the satellite operator Eutelsat to stop broadcasting the channels" Rossiya 1, Perviy Kanal and NTV , she said in a press release.
"These three channels indeed broadcast throughout the program remarks that fall under French law into incitement to hatred and violence against the Ukrainian population, calls for mass extermination or calls for the murder of leaders, or even incitement to genocide", indignant RSF.
However, the French company Eutelsat, "one of the main satellite operators in the world, distributes to Russia and occupied Ukraine, via several satellites, the Russian bouquets NTV + and Trikolor", broadcasters of the three channels targeted to 15 million of subscribers, i.e. a quarter of Russian households, underlines the NGO.
Despite their broadcast in Russia, the three channels are therefore "under French jurisdiction, and in particular under the control of Arcom", according to RSF.
This request differs from the measures already taken on French territory by Eutelsat, which notably ceased in August, at the request of Arcom, the broadcasting in Europe of the Russian channel NTV Mir, intended for residents of countries other than Russia, or that of RT in March, at the request of the European Union.
RSF had already denounced Eutelsat's activity in Russia in July, calling on the operator and the French state - its main shareholder via Bpifrance - to stop their "contribution to Russian propaganda".
Eutelsat then invoked a "principle of neutrality" and the responsibility of "national regulators".
© 2022 AFP