Disney Announces To Halt Broadcasting In Russia

Television operators have received information about the withdrawal from the broadcasting of the Russian TV channel Disney. This is a local version of the American TV channel from the studio of the same name.

The Russian children’s TV channel Disney will stop broadcasting from December 14, according to the Mash Telegram channel. The information was confirmed by a Kommersant source in one of the operators. According to him, the partners received notifications about the channel’s exit from the Russian market. However, there is no official end date for the broadcast.

The TV channel is a local version of the American Disney Channel, owned by the Disney animation studio. According to Mash, it will be replaced by the Solntse TV channel. A Kommersant source said that the shareholder of the Disney channel and the team of the Yellow, Black, and White studio will launch the new channel, but “its name and concept are not yet known.” The interlocutor from another operator notes that the information is still at the level of rumors. Representatives of Disney in Russia and the studio Yellow, Black, and White declined to comment.

Disney TV channel began broadcasting in Russia in 2010. Since January 2016, YuTV Holding has become the owner of 80% of the TV channel, as part of the limitation of foreign capital in domestic media to 20%. Disney broadcasts content from both Walt Disney Pictures and other producers, including Russian ones. Representatives of YuTV Holding declined to comment.

In early November, the Ministry of Industry and Trade included Disney Pixar products in the list of goods for parallel imports. The statement of the department emphasizes that we are talking about toys, games, and sports equipment of the brand.

Earlier

In mid-November, Disney announced that it was cutting staff and stopping hiring new employees in order to cut costs. The decision was made after the publication of an unsatisfactory financial report, including on the work of the Disney+ streaming service.

Disney will also close its film distribution division in Russia. As of the beginning of November, most of the employees have already been laid off. After completing the remaining work, Disney will completely withdraw from the country. All communications in the CIS will be carried out through the American office of Disney.

Disney has stopped the distribution of its films in Russia since April 7. As of March 27, the company was the leader among distributors in the country. Its market share was 31.67%.