Starting next year, after the cessation of broadcasting of the Latvian Radio 4 (LR4) program in Russian, the public media holding will retain the frequencies used by this radio station in Latgale, the Chairman of the National Council of Electronic Media, Ivars Aboliņš, said in an interview with Latvian Radio on Wednesday, as reported by LETA.
According to him, it is currently planned that the frequencies in Latgale will remain under the control of Latvian Public Media, while the other frequencies will be relinquished and offered to other media outlets on a commercial basis.
Aboliņš described the cessation of LR4's operations as one of the most significant changes in the electronic media sector in Latvia, as "content in the Russian language will no longer be funded by society."
At the same time, he acknowledged that Russian-language content will still dominate in the electronic media sector in Latvia — for example, 15 radio stations broadcasting in Russian will continue to operate in the radio space.
Aboliņš believes that after the liquidation of Russian-language content, Russian-speaking residents of Latvia will consume more content in Latvian.
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