National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting encourages NRCU to resume broadcasting

"On February 5, 2013 there was an event, unprecedented in the history of the independent Ukraine – on the initiative of the the National Radio Company of Ukraine, VHF transmitters of all the three its channels stopped broadcasting without any prior announcement or precautions. First of all, vulnerable strata of society in remote regions of Ukraine were left without information. This is especially dangerous on the eve of a probable flood, when the radio is the only alarm system in case of emergency. NRCU CEO Taras Avrakhov explained his decision with the lack of budgetary funds, "- the National Council noted.

According to the statement, the National Council has always understood the system of national and regional broadcasters as a single entity, able to cover the whole Ukraine with its signal, and, in recent years, a particular attention has been paid to it.

The National Council has repeatedly appealed to the National Radio Company of Ukraine with a demand to develop a comprehensive program of upgrading their networks taking into account the need to cover 100% of the territory of Ukraine for the sake of national security. This program, among other things, would help optimize costs of the broadcast networks. "Instead, the National Radio began demanding from the National Council FM-frequencies for a broadcasting network construction, in order to replace existing ones. This path is wrong "- the National Council noted.

"The myopic policy guidance of the National Radio Company of Ukraine led to the crisis not only with the company, but also with its partners - regional broadcasters which work with NRCU" -  the National Council noted.

"The National Council, at its meeting on Feb. 6, after hearing details from the Ivano-Frankivsk and Cherkasy Oblast state TV-radio companies, expressed their desire to support a strict implementation of the tasks set before them by the state, and refrained from imposing penalties for non-compliance of licenses. The regulator is closely monitoring developments and is ready to provide all possible support to public broadcasters, "- the National Council noted.