”It was a difficult conversation.” First Vice Speaker Kornienko answered why “Direct”, “Channel 5” and “Espresso” were excluded from the air

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Oleksandr Kornienko stated that the issue of technical disconnection from Espresso, Pryamiy and Channel 5 TV channels concerns the RRT state broadcasting authority. According to him, it was the authority who turned off the channels.

He spoke about this in an interview with Babel.

"As for the telethon, I will not say that he is a great expert, but as Oleksandr Tkachenko explained to us, it was really a difficult conversation with them [TV channels] and there was no understanding that the marathon is a unifying format, and they had a position they will broadcast a part of the marathon, and a part of the content will be their own", Kornienko added.

According to him, they are trying to make a political history out of it, because the channel leaders are deputies of the parliamentary faction. The Vice Speaker is convinced that this issue is important, but not the most important, and one can always find understanding.

He also added that now there are issues not only with these channels but also with the Rada channel, which is funded from nowhere because the costs of it are not protected and during the martial law it is not a priority. There are issues with the media market in general, because there is no advertising, and now we will have to provide support to oligarchic channels.

"I havenʼt heard any specific conversations, but there is no advertising market, and several thousand people work there. It is clear that the owners somehow support them inside the holdings, but it canʼt last for long. The marathon gives the channels the opportunity to make production cheaper", Kornyienko said.

• On Monday, April 4, Espresso, Direct and Channel 5 TV channels posted in an open letter that the RRT state authority had switched off their broadcasting. They are currently only available on YouTube. Channel reporters said the decision was made by the Presidentʼs Office. They consider it illegal, because "there is no document that would give grounds for the RRT concern to disconnect TV channels from broadcasting at night". Journalists demand that broadcasting be resumed immediately.
• The National Broadcasting Council did not publish any decision. President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Office have not yet responded to the statement.