Rostelecom files lawsuit against Muz-TV

The Russian telco Rostelecom has filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court against Muz-TV.

According to Vedomosti, it is trying to recover R151 million (€2.13 mllion) from the channel for access to its network.

This access was secured in 2012 following an agreement between the two parties.

As a result, Muz-TV vacated the terrestrial frequency it had until then used and began to be distributed only via cable networks.

The terrestrial frequency was taken over by the channel YU, part of the YUTV holding owned by Alisher Usmanov and Ivan Tavrin.

Significantly, this is the third lawsuit filed by Rostelecom against Muz-TV. The first, for more than R117 million, was submitted last September and granted by the court, while the second, for over R8.2 million in April this year, was rejected.

Muz-TV argues that its parent company YUTV has complied with the agreement with Rostelecom, with the contract with the latter consisting of two parts, namely finance (R491 million) and barter (R500 million).

It also claims that Rostelecom unilaterally terminated the contract and demanded the outstanding money to be paid by barter, something that the channel strongly opposed.

The national transmission company RTRS also tried to recover R664 million from Muz-TV last November and the two sides eventually reached an agreement.