Swedish media company Viaplay Group will exit the Baltic market as part of its cost-saving plans, ERR reports. Viaplay broadcasts entertainment and live sports, including matches from top European football leagues. Viaplay Group reported a net loss of SEK 6.174mn (EUR 534,000) in the first half of 2023.
Latvia’s Latvians and Russian-speakers continue to hold completely opposite views on the war in Ukraine, according to an SKDS poll for Ir magazine, LSM reports. The survey showed that 78% of Latvian-speakers supported Ukraine in April 2023, while only 27% of Russian-speakers did so. In mixed households, just 32% supported Ukraine, which was down from…
The Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGP) remain the country’s most trusted institution, according to a new Baltijos Tyrimai poll for LRT. The survey showed that 76% of respondents had confidence in LGP in June 2023. Another 71% trust the police, followed by the Catholic church with 66%, the president with 66%, the State Social Insurance Fund…
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has asked Prosecutor General Juris Stukans to explain why a Latvian citizen who provided support to Russia got away with just a fine, LSM reports. Earlier, a court found Marats Kasems, editor of Russian propaganda agency Sputnik’s Lithuanian edition, guilty of supporting Russia’s activities against Latvia and sentenced him to a…
Newspaper and magazine sales in Estonia fell in June 2023 compared to the same period of 2022, according to data from the Estonian Association of Media Enterprises (EML), ERR reports. Õhtuleht sold 32,000 (35,000) copies, followed by Maaleht with 31,700 (33,600), Eesti Ekspress with 19,000 (20,600), and Eesti Päevaleht with 8,600 (10,000) copies. Postimees stopped…
Estonia needs proactive legislation to restrict “harmful foreign media outlets,” in addition to sanctions imposed on Russia, Andres Jõesaar, media adviser at the Estonian Ministry of Culture, stated, ERR reports. He conceded that the recent controversial proposal by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) to monitor media bias was “badly worded.” However, Jõesaar…
An administrative court in Latvia has upheld the decision of the National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) to annul the broadcasting license of the independent Russian TV channel, Dozhd (TV Rain), TVNET reports. Dozhd announced that it would appeal the ruling in all instances, including in the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. Dozhd…
Estonian media group Ekspress Grupp’s digital subscriptions totalled 175,379 at the end of the first half of 2023, which was nearly 34,000 (24%) more than in the same period of 2022, GlobeNewswire reported. The number of subscriptions rose by 9% in the second quarter of 2023 and 20% in the first six months of 2023….
The advertising revenues generated by multinational digital corporations like Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet) in Estonia are unknown and untaxed, ERR reports. Karin Ulvik, media specialist at the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA), said that tax authorities had “no aggregated information on such a narrowly defined group of companies.” Collecting such data would require…