Cellular operators have revoked certificates of registration of their sites as media because of the new law
Representatives of the "Big Three" cellular operators of Russia announced that their sites are no longer media. Certificates of registration of sites as media are no longer valid. This operators also reported in Roskomnadzor.
According to the new amendments to the Law “On Mass Media”, since January 2016, foreigners are prohibited from directly or indirectly owning more than 20% of any Russian media. Therefore, now foreign investors can either leave the Russian market or reorganize the business so that it meets the new requirements. The restrictions were directed primarily against foreign media companies in Russia, but they also affected the corporate media of Russian companies.
Megafon , Vimpelcom (Beeline) and MTS are the largest cellular operators in Russia. Since operators are obliged to inform subscribers about changes in tariffs and other essential conditions for providing services through the media, all these companies have previously registered their official sites as media.
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The largest co-owners of VimpelCom are the Norwegian Telenor and the British L1 Technology by Mikhail Friedman, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev (33 and 56.2% of the operator’s ordinary shares, respectively), the rest of the shares are traded on NASDAQ. The controlling stake in MegaFon is owned by Alisher Usmanov’s USM Group, registered in the British Virgin Islands, and another 25% by Swedish TeliaSonera. Finally, depositary receipts, representing about 45% of MTS shares, are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
In order to comply with legal restrictions, Megafon agreed that the news section of its website will now be maintained by the Kommersant publishing house. The operator and Kommersant have a common owner - Alisher Usmanov. The founder of online media under the Megafon brand will now be Kommersant, the corresponding application has been filed with Roskomnadzor, said Vladimir Zhelonkin, chairman of the board of directors of the publishing house. For maintaining the news section of the site, Megafon will pay Kommersant 10 million rubles a year, follows from the decision of the board of directors of the operator.
VimpelCom agreed on similar terms with Rambler & Co : a Beeline section appeared on the Lenta.ru website (included in this media holding), where messages for the operator’s subscribers will be posted, the operator’s spokesman said, Vedomosti reports .
The representative of MTS said that the company will place ads for subscribers in the media that are not affiliated with MTS: the company is negotiating with several media companies.
The Yandex.Probki service was also registered as a media, Megamind wrote on May 5. Yandex is owned by the Netherlands-based company Yandex NV. Its shares are traded on NASDAQ. To avoid prosecution under the law, it is enough for a company to annul the certificate of registration of the Yandex.Probki service as mass media. This is the easiest solution to the problem.
As reported by RBC, earlier Pronto-Moscow has already done this. Its owner is the Turkish company Dogan Group . As a result, the status of the media was canceled for the sites irr.ru and job.ru.
According to the new amendments to the Law “On Mass Media”, since January 2016, foreigners are prohibited from directly or indirectly owning more than 20% of any Russian media. Therefore, now foreign investors can either leave the Russian market or reorganize the business so that it meets the new requirements. The restrictions were directed primarily against foreign media companies in Russia, but they also affected the corporate media of Russian companies.
Megafon , Vimpelcom (Beeline) and MTS are the largest cellular operators in Russia. Since operators are obliged to inform subscribers about changes in tariffs and other essential conditions for providing services through the media, all these companies have previously registered their official sites as media.
')
The largest co-owners of VimpelCom are the Norwegian Telenor and the British L1 Technology by Mikhail Friedman, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev (33 and 56.2% of the operator’s ordinary shares, respectively), the rest of the shares are traded on NASDAQ. The controlling stake in MegaFon is owned by Alisher Usmanov’s USM Group, registered in the British Virgin Islands, and another 25% by Swedish TeliaSonera. Finally, depositary receipts, representing about 45% of MTS shares, are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
In order to comply with legal restrictions, Megafon agreed that the news section of its website will now be maintained by the Kommersant publishing house. The operator and Kommersant have a common owner - Alisher Usmanov. The founder of online media under the Megafon brand will now be Kommersant, the corresponding application has been filed with Roskomnadzor, said Vladimir Zhelonkin, chairman of the board of directors of the publishing house. For maintaining the news section of the site, Megafon will pay Kommersant 10 million rubles a year, follows from the decision of the board of directors of the operator.
VimpelCom agreed on similar terms with Rambler & Co : a Beeline section appeared on the Lenta.ru website (included in this media holding), where messages for the operator’s subscribers will be posted, the operator’s spokesman said, Vedomosti reports .
The representative of MTS said that the company will place ads for subscribers in the media that are not affiliated with MTS: the company is negotiating with several media companies.
The Yandex.Probki service was also registered as a media, Megamind wrote on May 5. Yandex is owned by the Netherlands-based company Yandex NV. Its shares are traded on NASDAQ. To avoid prosecution under the law, it is enough for a company to annul the certificate of registration of the Yandex.Probki service as mass media. This is the easiest solution to the problem.
As reported by RBC, earlier Pronto-Moscow has already done this. Its owner is the Turkish company Dogan Group . As a result, the status of the media was canceled for the sites irr.ru and job.ru.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297812/
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