War videos on children's channel: Russia interferes with European broadcasts

European satellite companies have been dealing with interference in their broadcasts by Russia, which causes interruptions and even broadcasts of Russian military videos on a children’s TV channel.

Source: Bloomberg agency

Details: Since the middle of March, Russia has interfered with at least three satellites of the French operator Eutelsat SA. The interruptions on these channels lasted until the end of May.

In two cases, on 28 March and 17 April, the interference replaced the programme of a children’s entertainment channel BabyTV of the Walt Disney Co. company with Russian military videos. As a result, the Dutch cable operator Ziggo removed BabyTV from its recommendation list.

"The interference has been clearly identified as coming from large earth stations and should therefore be recorded and monitored by the Russian Federation authorities," France’s National Agency of Frequencies (ANFR) said in a letter to the Radio Regulations Board, the international telecommunications watchdog.

A spokesman for the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations agency that coordinates the global sharing of radio frequencies and satellite orbits, said the reports will be discussed at the next meeting of the Radio Regulations Board on June 24-28.

"Eutelsat Group is fully aware of deliberate radio frequency interference from external sources which has had an intermittent impact on some services," a spokesman for the French company said in an emailed statement. "Working in cooperation with the appropriate regulatory authorities, Eutelsat Group teams are fully engaged on this issue."

Amid its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been trying to disrupt various European communication systems as it tests the preparedness of the European Union and NATO. In April, Estonia and Finland accused Moscow of jamming GPS signals and disrupting flights and maritime traffic.

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