“Home”: Ukraine Presents State Channel for Occupied Territories

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine has presented a new TV channel to broadcast in the occupied territories. It has been named "Dom" (i.e. 'Home' in Russian) and sets the main goal of the “mental return of the inhabitants of the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea by delivering the main message: ‘Ukraine is our home’.”

Since March 1, the TV infotainment channel set up from the UATV channel is broadcasting in test mode.

The presentation was conducted by the UATV channel interim director general Yuliya Ostrovska, first deputy minister of culture Anatoliy Maksymchuk, deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Nikita Poturaev, as well as deputy heads of the Presidential Office Yuriy Kostyuk and Kirill Timoshenko.

"54% residents of the occupied territories do not have access to Ukrainian TV channels and 43% to Ukrainian websites," Ostrovska said stating that "de-occupation of conscience" is one of the goals for the newly created TV channel.

"We have negotiated with all the big players at the [Ukrainian] TV market and agreed that this channel will host the most premium content  –  in particular series, sports broadcasts, etc.," Timoshenko noted.

“Dom” will be getting entertainment content from media groups "1+1 media", "StarLight Media", "Inter Media Group", and "Media Group Ukraine". 15% of the content to be provided is produced by the Kvartal 95 studio founded by now-President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as part of the package from the "1+1 media" group.

The channel’s own news program and talk shows should be launched very soon, and it must completely move to its own production within two years, Timoshenko said.

Now the channel has only digital broadcasting. But as soon as it has its own production, “Dom” will be on the satellite and cable platforms as well.

MP Nikita Poturaev stated that the TV channel will be broadcast only in the occupied territories and it will not be possible to watch it in the government-controlled territories. The broadcast will be conducted both in Ukrainian and Russian languages, and the news would be both national and regional. Poturaev assured that “Dom” will not repeat the Russian propaganda clichés.

READ MORE: Peter Pomerantsev on Disinformation in the Modern Age

The channel will be advertised at the checkpoints with the occupied territories.

According to first deputy minister of culture Anatoliy Maksymchuk, the channel's 2020 budget together with the Ukrinform agency is 257 million hryvnias ($10.3 million).

The competition for the position of the director general of the channel will end on March 12.