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MOSCOW - Directors of the largest Russian television station
outside Kremlin control said Monday they could start winding up
the company next month, if a last-ditch legal appeal of a court
closure order failed.
A Moscow court last month ordered TV6 to shut down, citing statutory
irregularities. But the station's top news presenter and general
director, Yevgeny Kiselyov, said it intended to appeal the verdict.
TV6 says it is the latest victim of a campaign by President
Vladimir Putin to silence alternatives to official propaganda,
after the state-backed natural gas monopoly Gazprom took over
the independent NTV network.
``There is a political background to it of which everyone is
aware,'' said Kiselyov, who held an identical position at NTV
before the takeover.
The court ordered TV6 to shut down after ruling it had failed
to meet statutory financial requirements over a three year period,
a charge dismissed by the company.
``Forget about an economic dispute. The essence is plain for
all to see,'' said board member Igor Shabdurasulov.
An extraordinary shareholders' meeting was to convene on January
14 to vote on dismissal of the board and start liquidation procedures.
The legal challenge to TV6 was launched by a minority shareholder,
a pension fund linked to Russia's biggest oil producer LUKOIL.
The channel says the fund is doing the Kremlin's bidding but the
Kremlin has denied involvement.
TV6, owned by self-exiled businessman Boris Berezovsky who has
fallen foul of the Kremlin, became a refuge for many NTV veterans
who left after Gazprom's takeover last April.
Once regarded as a second-tier channel, its ratings and revenues
have grown rapidly in recent months, driven in part by its mega-hit
reality TV show ``Behind The Glass.'' The company says it will
continue broadcasting as usual, for now.
TV6's plight bears striking similarities to that of NTV, which
also came under intense legal pressure during a politically-charged
battle with a powerful energy giant.
The TV6 struggle has drawn an angry outcry from both leftist
and right-wing politicians. But the reaction has been muted compared
to the heated debates and street rallies which preceded Gazprom's
takeover of NTV.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, interviewed by TV6 in
Moscow Sunday, promised to raise the issue of media freedoms with
Putin at a meeting Tuesday, but declined to comment on the row
over thec channel. /Reuters/
See also:
TV6
case
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