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Credit to Author: Justin Ling| Date: Fri, 13 May 2022 11:00:00 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n Justin Ling<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not long after<\/span> Russia steamrolled into South Ossetia in 2008, effectively annexing the territory of its southern neighbor, a group of Georgians banded together to set up a new Russian-language television station, a voice independent of the Kremlin: Kanal PIK.<\/p>\n With the help of Georgia\u2019s public broadcaster, they signed a five-year deal with French satellite operator Eutelsat to beam their station into the Caucasus. Just two weeks after they launched in 2010, Eutelsat notified PIK that they were dropped.<\/a> Their space on the satellite had been promised to Gazprom Media Group, a chief pillar in Moscow\u2019s tightly controlled media system<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kanal PIK said in a statement at the time<\/a> that the saga \u201cleaves Intersputnik and Gazprom Media Group\u2014both of which adhere to the Kremlin's editorial line\u2014with a de facto satellite transmission monopoly over Russian-language audience.\u201d Kanal PIK would acquire a spot<\/a> on another Eutelsat a year later, but the station struggled and went dark in 2012.<\/p>\n More than a decade on, Russia once again finds itself trying to consolidate its information hegemony in the region. And, once again, Eutelsat is making it possible. But two experts on the satellite industry say it\u2019s time that Ukraine\u2019s allies step up and force Eutelsat to prioritize real reportage on the situation in Ukraine over Russia\u2019s state-backed disinformation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt's not normal that a French satellite is used for a propaganda war,\u201d says Andr\u00e9 Lange, one half of the Denis Diderot Committee. If their proposals are adopted, \u201cit would be a bomb going off in the Russian media world,\u201d says Jim Phillipoff, a former satellite TV executive and ex-Kyiv Post CEO. He\u2019s the other half of the Diderot Committee.<\/p>\n Formed in March, Phillipoff and Lange\u2019s committee has, essentially, only one recommendation: Unplug Russia\u2019s main satellite television providers from the Eutelsat satellites and replace them with stations carrying independent and credible journalism into Russia. \u201cThat's the ultimate goal of our effort\u2014to actually provide alternative media channels into the Russian television space that are not controlled by the Russian government,\u201d Phillipoff tells WIRED.<\/p>\n Russian television has been ubiquitously and unfailingly in favor of the war against Ukraine, dutifully promoting Moscow\u2019s official propaganda<\/a>\u2014and, all too often, disinformation<\/a>. Satellite television is especially important, particularly for areas with poor broadband connectivity. The Council of Europe estimates that about 30 percent of Russian households pay for satellite television. About half of the country has satellite dishes on their homes, Phillipoff says.<\/p>\n Those dishes are largely calibrated to receive signals from five satellites, all managed by Eutelsat. The two most important satellites orbit at 36\u00b0 east, giving them coverage for much of Eastern Europe and western Russia: One, 36B, is owned directly by Eutelsat; the other, 36C, is owned by the Russian government and leased to Eutelsat\u2014which, in turn, leases space back to Russian television operators. The other three satellites are owned directly by Russia but managed by Eutelsat, and cover central, northern, and eastern Russia.<\/p>\n The two Russian operators that rely on those satellites, Tricolor and NTV+, carry an array of Russian, European, and American channels, from the jingoistic news coverage<\/a> broadcast by Channel One to networks owned by Disney. Several channels have disappeared from those packages in recent months. Some, like CNN, stopped broadcasting<\/a> after new media censorship laws came into effect; others, like Euronews, were forced off the air<\/a> by the Kremlin.<\/p>\n If Eutelsat removed the two Russian television companies from its satellite, the Diderot Committee says, it could replace them with a raft of free-to-air channels.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could create a great deal of creativity,\u201d Phillipoff says. \u201cAnd there's a lot of exiled Russian journalists who would love to be a part of free television which is getting into Russia.\u201d Phillipoff points to TV Rain<\/a>, an independent Russian news station shut down by Moscow. Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty can also uplink to Eurosat\u2019s satellites and runs its own stations in the region<\/a>. To access those channels, users would just need cheap receiver boxes, which are not hard to come by.<\/p>\n The West has made an effort to deliver independent journalism<\/a> in Russia. The UK government has upped funding to the BBC to counter Russian disinformation<\/a>; outlets like The New York Times<\/em> have set up channels on Telegram<\/a>, the social media platform hugely popular in Russia; and VPN providers have been setting up new tunnels through Moscow\u2019s internet filtering<\/a> just as fast as the Kremlin can ban them.<\/p>\n The simple fact is that a French-based satellite operator ensures that Russian-controlled media reaches millions of Russians. If Eutelsat decided to cancel that lease and offer the space to independent Russian and Ukrainian news outlets, it could disrupt Russian television broadcasting overnight.<\/p>\n \u201cThey certainly wouldn't be happy about it,\u201d Phillipoff says. But they might not have many good options to retaliate.<\/p>\n Russia could try disrupting the satellite signal\u2014the Soviets jammed<\/a> Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty throughout the Cold War, while more recently Ethiopia has blocked satellite signals<\/a> from a host of independent Western media outlets. Phillipoff says such a dramatic escalation is unlikely. \u201cIt takes the information war to almost a hot place.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy Greenberg<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Tom Simonite<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Matt Burgess<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Beyond signal jamming and Moscow\u2019s usual roster of cyber and information operations tactics, they might not have a better way to retaliate without cutting off their own television networks. \u201cI think they would try to make do with what they've got on 36C and let 36B go to, you know, the alternative media.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing you\u2019ve got to understand about satellites is the position\u2014if it's an established position\u2014it's like real estate. It matters an awful lot,\u201d Phillipoff says. If a satellite is positioned at 36\u00b0 east, he says, that means tens of millions of satellite dishes are fixed on that location. \u201cYou can't just say, you know what? We're gonna move to, you know, 118\u00b0.\u201d Recalibrating all of those satellite dishes could take months, if not years, and millions of dollars.<\/p>\n But Eutelsat has been cool to the idea of breaking up with Moscow.<\/p>\n Speaking to Danish news outlet Radar early this month, Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke insisted that Eutelsat would remain \u201cneutral.<\/a>\u201d She told Radar that the decision of whether or not to exclude the Russian television providers would be one left to the authorities.<\/p>\n In a statement to WIRED, Eutelsat reiterated that \u201ccommitment to neutrality.\u201d With respect to any possible suspension for those Russian stations, the company iterated that it is \u201cguided by sanctions and the decisions of its competent regulatory bodies.\u201d The company points to RT France, which it stopped transmitting after a March 1 regulatory decision.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the European authorities impose new sanctions against Russian channels, we will stop their broadcast,\u201d the company said. It added: \u201cAt this stage, no regulator or other competent authority has asked us to stop broadcasting private Russian television channels in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillipoff and Lange have been turning their appeal to politicians, but with minimal effect. \u201cWe sent letters to all French members of the European Parliament,\u201d Lange says. \u201cNot a single answer.\u201d<\/p>\n How, exactly, Paris or Brussels might force Eutelsat to block those Russian channels is an open question. Lange and Phillipoff say that if the European Union can ban the English-language Sputnik and RT stations from their airwaves, sanctions should have the power to remove Russian-language TV from their satellites. In May, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told the EU Parliament they would ban three new broadcasters \u201cin whatever shape or form, be it on cable, via satellite, on the internet, or via smartphone apps.\u201d<\/p>\n Politico<\/a> has reported that those three broadcasters are Russian-language news networks that reach Europe, with some help from Eutelsat\u2019s satellites.<\/p>\n Eutelsat told WIRED, \u201cWe are aware of the European Union's intention to sanction three Russian channels, two of which are broadcast on our satellites, and we are ready to immediately cease broadcasting them as soon as the corresponding European regulation is published.\u201d<\/p>\n The United States recently slapped sanctions on three Russian-language TV stations, including NTV (the flagship station of provider NTV+), after concluding that they are \u201cspreading disinformation to bolster Putin\u2019s war.\u201d Those sanctions are likely to have an impact on their foreign revenue, but not on their Russian operations.<\/p>\n Going after the satellites themselves would be a hugely disruptive escalation. Moscow and Kyiv are already taking aim at each others\u2019 satellite communications.<\/p>\n Western intelligence agencies say, in the hours before its invasion, Russian hackers took aim<\/a> at American satellite provider Viasat. \u201cAlthough the primary target is believed to have been the Ukrainian military, other customers were affected, including personal and commercial internet users,\u201d the UK\u2019s National Cyber Center said in a joint statement with the US and EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, just ahead of Russia\u2019s Victory Day celebrations\u2014which offered Moscow a prime opportunity to project strength amidst its stalled war\u2014the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine announced that \u201c[television] broadcast from the Russian satellite to the occupied Ukrainian regions was unexpectedly turned off.\u201d<\/p>\n As WIRED has reported, Ukraine is aggressively deploying American- and European-provided Starlink terminals<\/a>, while Russian satellite communications remain troubled.<\/a><\/p>\n European cooperation isn\u2019t limited to Eutelsat\u2019s satellite television. Eutelsat owns two subsidiaries in Russia, including home internet provider Konnect. In turn, the Russian state satellite operator owns a small stake in Eutelsat itself. (Corporate documents say most of tje 3.62 percent ownership stake corresponds to the Russian Satellite Communications Company, or RSCC.)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some two dozen countries<\/a> make up the Moscow-based Intersputnik consortium, primarily in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Its members include the Czech Republic, Romania, Germany, and Ukraine. In 2020, France announced its intention to join Intersputnik.<\/p>\n Intersputnik managed part of the Soviet Union\u2019s satellite fleet, before being privatized after the fall of the USSR. Moscow\u2019s influence on the organization is fairly apparent: The chair of its board is a senior civil servant in the Russian government.<\/p>\n As the West continues its messy divorce with Russia, an organization like Intersputnik could allow Russia to launch and maintain satellite service, underpinning not just television, but internet service, military communications, and geospatial imaging<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Diderot Committee\u2019s Lange and Phillipoff hope that this current fight could enable more open flows of information in the future\u2014that\u2019s what informs the tongue-in-cheek name of their group. As its website explains: \u201cOn July 6, 1762, just nine days after the coup d\u2019\u00e9tat of June 28 that put her on the throne, Catherine II invited the French philosopher Denis Diderot to come to Russia in order to publish L\u2019encyclop\u00e9die<\/em>, which had been banned in Paris. Diderot accepted her invitation and arrived in St. Petersburg in October of 1773."<\/p>\n