Getty Images | Mikhail Svetlovo
Not long after Russia invaded South Ossetia in 2008 and effectively annexed the territory of its southern neighbor, a group of Georgians teamed up to set up a new Russian-language television station, a vote independent of the Kremlin: Kanal PIK.
With the help of the Georgian public broadcaster, they signed a five-year deal with French satellite operator Eutelsat to beam their station to the Caucasus. Just two weeks after their launch in 2010, Eutelsat informed PIK that they had been dropped. Their space on the satellite was promised to Gazprom Media Group, a key pillar of Moscow’s tightly controlled media system.
Kanal PIK said in a statement at the time that the saga is “leaving Intersputnik and Gazprom Media Group — both of which stick to the Kremlin’s editorial line — with a de facto satellite transmission monopoly over the Russian-speaking public.” Kanal PIK would acquire a spot on another Eutelsat a year later, but the station struggled and went dark in 2012.
More than a decade later, Russia is again trying to consolidate its information hegemony in the region. And again Eutelsat makes it possible. But two satellite experts say it is time for Ukraine’s allies to stand up and force Eutelsat to prioritize genuine reporting on the situation in Ukraine over Russia’s state-sponsored disinformation.
“It is not normal for a French satellite to be used for a propaganda war,” says André Lange, one half of the Denis Diderot committee. If their proposals are passed, “it would be a bomb going off in the Russian media world,” said Jim Phillipoff, a former director of satellite TV and former CEO of Kiev Post. He is the other half of the Diderot Committee.
The Phillipoff and Lange committee, set up in March, has essentially only one recommendation: Disconnect Russia’s main satellite television providers from the Eutelsat satellites and replace them with stations that bring independent and credible journalism to Russia. “That is the ultimate goal of our efforts – to actually provide alternative media channels in the Russian television space that are not controlled by the Russian government,” Phillipoff tells WIRED.
Russian television has been ubiquitous and unfailingly supportive of the war against Ukraine, dutifully promoting Moscow’s official propaganda — and, all too often, disinformation† Satellite television is especially important, especially in areas with poor broadband connectivity. The Council of Europe estimates that about 30 percent of Russian households pay for satellite television. About half the country has satellite dishes at home, Phillipoff says.
Those dishes are largely calibrated to receive signals from five satellites, all operated by Eutelsat. The two main satellites orbit around 36° east, covering much of Eastern Europe and Western Russia: One, 36B, is directly owned by Eutelsat; the other, 36C, is owned by the Russian government and leased to Eutelsat, which in turn leases space to Russian television companies. The other three satellites are directly owned by Russia but operated by Eutelsat and cover central, northern and eastern Russia.
