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| quote: | Originally posted by Lilith
Well it's not something I can exactly make up off the top of my head and besides, it's your bloody country, you should know better than I do what happens in it. Oh thats right you left.
This was roughly when I heard about it.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/e...0408_67180.html
When Lilith was entertaining delusions of granduer about owning a TV station somewhere in the world, then I looked into energy corps and it was even worse there... 
Bit more digging around to see if it went through.
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5237.html
Passed 3 bills to deter foreign investment.
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5291.html
It pissed some people off as it was going to be a 50% stake -1share, instead it got much more restricted.
Course, Lilith still makes this up because she like's looking foolish on the internet and apparently has nothing better to do than make up stories. |
Alright, it took me some time to find the actual law.
Yes, you were right there is a law that restricts investments for foreigners into Russian mass media. It's not limited to 30% of shares, but to 49.9%.
| quote: | Russian Duma Adopts Bill to Limit Foreigners' Control of Mass Media
The Russian State Duma or lower house of parliament passed Thursday in its first reading a bill of limiting foreign interests in Russian mass media.
The bill was adopted by 332 votes for and 22 against with three abstentions.
Under the bill, foreigners, people without Russian citizenship, people holding dual citizenship or foreign legal entities can hold no more than 50 percent of the stake in Russian mass media.
The bill was drafted by a group of Duma deputies who are members of the Duma committee for information policy.
Alexander Chuyev from the Unity party faction, who was one of the drafters, said the bill is aimed to protect the rights of speech freedom of Russian citizens.
"We deem it impossible for foreign legal entities to purchase controlling packages of shares," Chuyev said, adding that this is something related to not only the citizens' rights of speech freedom, but also the interests of Russia's security and political stability.
"There have been cases where foreign legal entities and Russian legal entities with foreign interests held more than half of the capital in Russian mass media, so we initiated this legislative motion," he said.
At the same time, Chuyev stressed that foreign investment is necessary for the technical development of the Russian mass media.
When drafting the bill, the drafters said, they took into consideration the experience of other countries in the sphere. "Such restrictions exist in the United States, France, Poland, the Czech Republic and some other European countries," Chuyev said.
At the State Duma sessions discussing the bill, left-wing deputies complained that "legalization of foreign interests" in mass media will pave the way for "agents of Western influence" in Russia, while right-wing deputies said the Russian media should be protected not only from foreigners, but also from certain Russian private individuals and legal entities. |
Russian Duma Adopts Bill to Limit Foreigners' Control of Mass Media
| quote: |
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Article 19.1. Limitations Regarding Founding of Television, Video Programs, as well as of Organizations (Legal Entities) that Carry on Television Broadcasting
A foreign legal entity, as well as a Russian legal entity with a foreign participation, wherever the share (input) of the foreign participation in the stock (joint) capital equals or exceeds 50 percent, a citizen of the Russian Federation with a dual citizenship, may not act as founders of television, video programs.
A citizen of another state, a stateless person and a citizen of the Russian Federation with a dual citizenship, a foreign legal entity, as well as a Russian legal entity with a foreign participation, wherever the share (input) of the foreign participation in the statuary (joint) capital equals or exceeds 50 percent may not act as founders of organizations (legal entities) that carry on television broadcasting of their programs over a half or more of the subjects of the Russian Federation, or the territory where a half or more of the population of the Russian Federation lives.
No provision shall be made for giving away of the stock (shares) by the founder of a television, video program, - also if that happens after its registration, - by organization (legal entity) that carries on television broadcasting of its programs over a half or more of the subjects of the Russian Federation, or the territory where a half or more of the population of the Russian Federation lives, that lead to the appearance in its statuary (joint) capital of a share (input) of foreign participation that equals or exceeds 50 percent
Article 19.1. was added by Federal Law No.107-FZ of August 4, 2001.
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Law of the Russian Federation "On Mass Media"
And now, let's take a look on the US communication law.
| quote: |
...
SEC. 310. [47 U.S.C. 310] LIMITATION ON HOLDING AND TRANSFER
OF LICENSES.
(a) The station license required under this Act shall not be granted to or held by any foreign government or the representative thereof.
(b) No broadcast or common carrier or aeronautical en route or
aeronautical fixed radio station license shall be granted to or held by--
(1) any alien or the representative of any alien;
(2) any corporation organized under the laws of any foreign
government;
(3) any corporation of which more than one-fifth of the capital
stock is owned of record or voted by aliens or their representatives or by a
foreign government or representative thereof or by any corporation
organized under the laws of a foreign country;
(4) any corporation directly or indirectly controlled by any other
corporation of which more than one-fourth of the capital stock is owned of
record or voted by aliens, their representatives, or by a foreign government
or representative thereof, or by any corporation organized under the laws
of a foreign country, if the Commission finds that the public interest will be
served by the refusal or revocation of such license.
(c) In addition to amateur station licenses which the Commission may issue
to aliens pursuant to this Act, the Commission may issue authorizations, under such conditions and terms as it may prescribe, to permit an alien licensed by his
government as an amateur radio operator to operate his amateur radio station
licensed by his government in the United States, its possessions, and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico provided there is in effect a multilateral or bilateral
agreement, to which the United States and the alien's government are parties, for
such operation on a reciprocal basis by United States amateur radio operators.
Other provisions of this Act and of the Administrative Procedure Act shall not be
applicable to any request or application for or modification, suspension, or
cancellation of any such authorization.
(d) No construction permit or station license, or any rights thereunder, shall
be transferred, assigned, or disposed of in any manner, voluntarily or involuntarily,
directly or indirectly, or by transfer of control of any corporation holding such
permit or license, to any person except upon application to the Commission and
upon finding by the Commission that the public interest, convenience, and
necessity will be served thereby. Any such application shall be disposed of as if the
proposed transferee or assignee were making application under section 308 for the
permit or license in question; but in acting thereon the Commission may not consider whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity might be served by the transfer, assignment, or disposal of the permit or license to a person other than the proposed transferee or assignee.
(e)(1) In the case of any broadcast station, and any ownership interest therein, which is excluded from the regional concentration rules by reason of the savings provision for existing facilities provided by the First Report and Order adopted March 9, 1977 (docket No. 20548; 42 Fed. Reg. 16145), the exclusion shall not terminate solely by reason of changes made in the technical facilities of the station to improve its service.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term ''regional concentration rules'' means the provisions of sections 73.35, 73.240, and 73.636 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect June 1, 1983), which prohibit any party from directly or indirectly owning, operating, or controlling three broadcast stations in one or several services where any two of such stations are within 100 miles of the third (measured city-to-city), and where there is a primary service contour overlap of any of the stations.
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Well in generally it means, that as a foreigner I cannot even get a license to setup a broadcast station in the US. I can get it only if I register my company and it doesn't HOLD MORE THAN 20% of shares.
There are similiar laws in France and other European countries.
So what's a problem with Russian media law than?
Last edited by star-traveller on Feb-06-2007 at 13:57
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