#3
Russian TV Station Wins Court Battle
December 29, 2001
By MARA D. BELLABY

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's TV6 television station, widely considered the last bastion of independence on Russian airwaves, won a major court battle Saturday to stay on the air.

A Moscow arbitration court canceled earlier rulings to liquidate the company and ordered further hearings, said Tatiana Blinova, a spokeswoman for TV6.

TV6 had faced liquidation after a minority shareholder brought a bankruptcy case against the station on accusations that it failed to earn a profit.

The station denied it was losing money, and supporters accused the Kremlin of trying to force TV6 off the airwaves because of its criticism of President Vladimir Putin and his government.

The legal battle has prompted international concern.

``The TV6 case represents a threat to the independence of the media in Russia,'' Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, told the Echo of Moscow radio station Friday. ``For us, it seems a little bit bizarre that a station that is becoming very profitable is suddenly being liquidated for bankruptcy.''

TV6 is led by a group of journalists who left NTV television after it was taken over earlier this year by the state-connected Gazprom natural gas giant. NTV's former owner, tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, accused the Kremlin of ordering the takeover to silence a critical voice.

The government denied the allegation, and Gazprom said it was acting to protect its business interests.

The bankruptcy suit was brought in May by Lukoil-Garant, a pension fund owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil, which holds a 15 percent stake in TV6. Lukoil-Garant, which itself is minority owned by the Russian state, demanded that the station be liquidated because the station's debts outweighed its assets.

TV6 director Yevgeny Kiselyov argued that TV6 is now among the leaders on the Russian television market, and that the station was making a profit by Western accounting standards.

The station is expected to have 12-13 percent of the audience share across Russia next year, the company said. Blinova said Saturday that TV6 now is in the black by $1.6 million.

Blinova also said that during the hearing, station employees were told that as of Jan. 1, a new law would prevent minority shareholders from bringing bankruptcy proceedings against a company. It was not immediately clear if the law would be retroactive and have any impact on this case.