Netflix will begin streaming 20 Russian TV channels to appease watchdog

What you need to know

Netflix will begin streaming 20 local TV channels in Russia from March.
Netflix has been classified as an audiovisual service, forcing the move.
Any TV streamer with more than 100,000 daily users will likely need to offer the same TV channels.

Any streamer with more than 100,000 daily users will have to follow suit.

Netflix will begin streaming 20 Russian state TV channels from March in a move that will be mandated for all streamers that have more than 100,000 daily users. The move comes after Roskomnadzor, the country’s media watchdog, classified Netflix as an “audiovisual service” last week.

Engadget, citing a local reports, notes that any streamer with more than 100,000 daily users will be classified the same way — something that will likely put Apple TV+ in the crosshairs as well. Apple doesn’t share its streaming figures, however, so we don’t know for sure.

The change means that, as of March, Netflix will begin streaming channels including Channel One, an entertainment channel alongside a Russian Orthodox Church channel.

Netflix being added to the same register as other media companies will also mean that it has to follow Russian laws, including those related to what the country labels as content relating to “extremism.” However, “critics claim that provision has been wielded against those who support the Kremlin’s opponents.”

Yet another result of this new classification is that Netflix will now reportedly need to open a Russian company through which its local dealings will likely need to be funneled.

Just last November, Russia demanded that Apple and other companies set up local offices.