Russia tightens regulation for media acquisitions by foreigners
The Russian
government enforces tighter control over foreign-owned mass-media operating in
Russia. While CNN already announced to go off the air in Russia at the end of
this year – after 21 years of local retransmission - other media companies will
have ask state authorities if they want to acquire even small shares in local
media companies.
Vedomosti online
reports today that, according to a new ruling, any foreign company acquiring
media shares in Russia above 25 percent of the company’s capital needs to ask
the antimonopoly committee for permission.
The new
regulation is based on the Law on foreign investments in strategic industries,
entering into force December 6th. This comes in addition to further legislative
changes entering into force in 2016, limiting foreign ownership in any media to
20 percent.
Also, the
threshold for limitations will change: While at the moment regulatory
restrictions concern TV, radio companies, and newspapers above a daily circulation
of 1mln single copy sales, the new restrictions will affect much smaller media:
It will concern print outlets published twice or more per week, reaching an annual
circulation of 15mln copies, weeklies with annual sales of more than 2,5mln
copies, and monthlies above 0.7 mln sold magazines a year. In terms of a single issue this means a circulation of
app. 60,000 for dailies, 50,000 for weeklies, and 58,000 for monthlies.
According
to Vedomosti the new regulation will affect titles like Cosmopolitan (monthly 800,000 copies) Marie Claire (monthly 290,000) Afisha (265,000), Maxim (175,000)
and Forbes (100,000), citing the publishers’ sales data. But most of all,
free dailies will have to watch out, such as Metro (520.000 issues in Moscow), and even a business daily like Vedomosti itself.
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