Ukraine's leading independent television news channel will turn to the European Court for Human Rights to challenge a court ruling that blocks its expansion plans, the Interfax news agency reported Friday, according to dpa. Kiev's regional administrative court ruled on Thursday that Channel 5 had improperly been awarded frequencies by a government agency to allow for its expansion. The Kiev court decision could open the way for a new tender for the frequencies and give an advantage to Inter television, Channel 5's pro-government rival. The ruling came in response to a suit brought by Inter. The Kiev court sided with Inter, finding that the previous government had acted improperly in instructing the National Television and Radio Committee to allocate more frequencies to Channel 5 than to Inter. Inter, whose programming is almost always supportive of the government, broadcasts a mixture of entertainment, sports and news. Channel 5 is a news-only channel and Ukraine's only major television broadcaster that routinely criticizes the government. Inter is owned by Valery Khoroshevsky, head of the SBU, the national intelligence agency. He is a close ally of President Viktor Yanukovych. Both have denied they intend to suppress free speech or opposition access to the media. Channel 5 said on its website that the court decision was unfair and dictated by the Yanukovych administration. Inter television lawyers argued that their company enjoys a substantially larger market share than the news-oriented Channel 5 and should be awarded expanded frequencies for the operation of a new national movie channel.
