Parliament offers 75% Ukrainian language quota on national TV

The bill proposes to establish that the share of programs and/or movies in the Ukrainian language aired by national-level TV and radio broadcasting organizations shall amount to at least 75% during the day in each of the time intervals from 7am to 6pm and from 6pm to 10pm. The bill also stipulates setting an obligatory share of 50% for the relevant regional and local broadcasting organizations. The bill sets the same requirements for a mandatory share of news broadcasts in state language. Movies and shows that are not made by broadcasting organizations and not aired in state language should be subtitled using Ukrainian. According to the document, the programme is considered to be aired in state language if all lines of anchors are in state language. At the same time, it is allowed using other languages in reporting from the scene, comments by guests of the shows, etc. Сhairwoman of the parliament committee on freedom of speech Viktoria Siumar noted that the bill "is of a transitional nature," since there are a number of bills submitted to parliament that should establish that Ukrainian is a primary language in Ukraine. Siumar noted that some TV channels now have a 90% Russian-language broadcast, although they are called Ukrainian television media. According to the bill, the Crimean Tatar language is included in the Ukrainian language quota.