On April 9 in Armenia, broadcasting of Russian NTV channel was interrupted. On April 8, the sound disappeared, whereas the next day there was no picture. “Paradise” company (retransmitting NTV) accounts for disappearance of the Russian channel from Armenian air by technical reasons – mainly transmitter problems.
Meanwhile, there is an opinion that technical obstacles were not accidental but induced by NTV’s covering of the opposition rallies in Yerevan. An indirect proof of this may be the last year’s blocking of NTV in similar situation. The broadcasting was interrupted on February 26, 2003 and resumed only on March 17 – in hardly two weeks after the second round of presidential elections (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 15-21, 2003). This time, even AATV satellite network subscribers were deprived of NTV programs.
Mysterious disappearances from air afflicted several programs of Armenian TV companies. In particular, on April 9 “Burg” program of “Yerevan” TV was no longer on air. Previously, “Tesankyun” program on “Kentron” TV was shut.
