For the past two days, Russians have been firing at television towers and trying to stop the broadcasting of Ukrainian TV channels. The signal is muffled on satellite, providers are being pressured in the cities. Nowadays, it is impossible to stop broadcasting of TV channels with one explosion of a TV tower, because they are available on cable networks, on online platforms, via satellite and simply on Internet sites. The goal is to create a panic situation. However, so far these attempts have been in vain, Detector Media notes.

Digital broadcasting, satellite and providers

The State Emergency Service announced that the TV tower in Lutsk had been blown up on the morning of February 24. However, the police soon denied this information. They purposefully started firing at TV towers on March 1. Just then, the marathon of Ukrainian TV channels informed about possible interruptions in communication and the spread of misinformation about the capitulation of Ukraine.

In the evening, the rockets flew to the Kyiv TV tower. After a series of explosions in Kyiv, the TV signal disappeared. Broadcasting was suspended on digital waves, and providers continued to broadcast to cable operators, OTT platforms and satellites. The shell hit the hardware of the TV tower.

On March 2, the occupiers fired at the Kharkiv TV Tower. The shell damaged a nearby building. There were attempts to blow up the TV tower in Lysychansk, Luhansk region. However, the shell hit the area near the tower, where there are houses. The canals were evacuated. The tower in Korosten, Zhytomyr Region, was fired upon. The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting clarified that it is currently working, but there is no signal from the Korosten TV channel that the delivery cable was damaged by the shelling. In most cases, digital broadcasting in T2 was restored quickly. At the same time, the signal did not disappear on other technologies - in cable television, OTT and satellite.

The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting allowed regional broadcasters to broadcast on T2 without a license on free frequencies that were to be submitted to the competition and on the frequencies of Medvedchuk's channels. In Poltava, for example, PTV appealed to the National Council and, according to the regulator, "thanks to the joint efforts of the broadcaster, the Concern RRT and Zeonbud LLC began broadcasting in the T2 digital standard in Poltava region." The signal extends to Poltava, Iskrivka, Kobeliaky, Krasnohorivka and Perelisky.

In the Khmelnytsky region from March 1, "First Podilsky" will air in in Khmelnytsky and will soon appear in Kamyanets-Podilsky.

In Lviv, the Lviv municipal TV channel First Western started broadcasting in the digital multiplex MX-5 Zeonbud on the site of the propaganda channel 112, which was shut down in February 2021. Channels from other regions will soon be connected to free places.

In parallel with the shelling of the infrastructure, there are attempts to drown out the signal of the channels on the satellite - DDoS-attacks and similar. For example, Mykola Chernotytskyi , Chairman of the Board of the National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine, announced this. Public channels repulsed the attacks, but were forced to switch to a backup satellite. Which satellite is safer now is not disclosed, so as not to receive a new barrage of attacks. Also on the ground, the occupiers are pressuring local providers to turn off Ukrainian channels.

To be on the safe side, national and some local broadcasters are backing up the satellite, and KRRT is increasing the power of transmitters to increase coverage.

"Providers are helping to repair damaged networks. We allow local channels to air in their respective cities. Channels also reserve streams over the Internet. Local broadcasters do not have more opportunities, because they have less capacity than national ones,” said Maksym Onoprienko, a member of the National Council. The National Council also monitors and verifies reports on the broadcasting of Russian propaganda channels in Ukraine.

Currently, most local broadcasters air a single telethon launched by the Social media groups and the Rada channel under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Kateryna Myasnikova, executive director of the National Media Association, said the channels also broadcast local news and included local briefings. "And they are trying to save the broadcasts." At the same time, they include local news. In some cities, such as Lviv and Zaporizhia, the channels run their own marathons: they unite and make a single broadcast.

"Channels in Zaporizhzhia keep in touch with broadcasters in the occupied regions of the region and inform about events on their air. When broadcasting was suspended after the attack on the Kyiv TV tower, all local channels switched to a single marathon, and after the restoration of T2, they returned to their own special projects," said Maksym Onoprienko.

Meanwhile, the digital TV provider-operator Zeonbud is working on transferring the signal of Ukrainian channels to the reserve main station, which is located outside the country.

"The rocket attack caused serious damage to the equipment of the main station. We are currently carrying out operational work at the reserve main station, which is located outside Ukraine. We expect the resumption of broadcasting in full by the end of the day (yesterday, e.d.)," Zeonbud said.

Currently, only eight national and local channels are broadcast. In total, the provider's multiplexes have space for 32 channels.

Availability of Ukrainian channels around the world

Ukrainian channels are available by satellite. The media groups also have agreements with international providers. For example, Media Group Ukraine is available on the Georgian platform Feedc.com, on the Israeli platform ALTRU, etc.

The National Council, together with media groups, is negotiating with European regulators to replace disconnected Russian propaganda channels with Ukrainian broadcasters.