Online cinemas will propose amendments to the bill restricting their work

Russian online cinemas can propose their own amendments to the bill, which on Friday, January 13, was adopted by the State Duma in the first reading.

The bill sets a limit for online movie theaters. According to the document, by June 1, 2017, foreign participation in audiovisual services with professional content should be limited to 20%. Online cinemas are also prohibited from displaying advertisements for political parties and election campaigning.

Mikhail Platov, Deputy General Director for Legal Affairs of the ivi online cinema, told Novaya Gazeta that at the moment the company, in agreement with the developers of the bill, is preparing amendments to it.

“We want to propose them for submission before the second reading. These amendments will eliminate the damage from the adoption of the bill for the Russian online video market,” he said.

In general, participants in the Russian film business have a negative attitude towards this bill.

“We are extremely negative about this bill,” said Marina Surygina, general director of the Tvzavr online cinema. - Now we have 100% Russian investments, but we are growing, developing new projects, in particular, "Russian Cinema", which shows Russian and Soviet films all over the world. Of course, we may need additional investments. Russian investors are in no hurry to invest, and the way to foreign investment is essentially blocked for us, thus simply killing the possibility of further development.”

According to distributor Sam Klebanov, the bill "only contributes to the growth of piracy, because international platforms are the engine of progress in the world."

“For distributors, this is, of course, a disastrous decision,” he said. “This is an absolutely protectionist bill that restricts free competition in the online movie market. The adoption of the law will have a negative impact on both the development of the market and the consumer.”

He added that "for viewers, of course, and for independent distributors, the optimal situation is when the market is open and different players can participate in it."

“Any economy should receive foreign investment. And we say “no” to them. Taking the example of Sweden, where I live and work, international platforms such as iTunes live and develop together with local companies. In such a situation, local platforms must maintain a very high level in order to compete with international ones,” Klebanov added.

Earlier, the government sent its comments on the document, but generally supported the bill.

to the State Duma Recall that in November, a bill was submitted , which provides for the creation of a register of online cinemas and the restriction of foreign participation in them. According to the document, the owners of online cinemas are actually equated to the media: foreign ownership of such services is limited to 20%.

The document was developed by the Media Communication Union (ISS), whose members are MTS, VimpelCom, MegaFon, Rostelecom, Gazprom-Media, National Media Group (NMG), CTC Media, Digital Television (“daughter” of VGTRK and Rostelecom).