UPDATE 2: Russian min says OTT regulation bill not applicable to YouTube

(Adds information on iTunes, Google Play, background in four last paragraphs)

MOSCOW, Nov 30 (PRIME) -- A bill aimed at regulating work of over-the-top services (OTT), like audio visual services, does not involve services provided by video hosting company YouTube, Russian Deputy Communications Minister Alexei Volin said on Wednesday.

Mass media has reported that a legal committee of the Media Communications Union had warned that You Tube would have to stick to the bill, which seeks to cap foreign capital in audio visual services at 20%, similar to the limit existing in mass media.

“There has been no statement from the union’s legal committee. On the contrary, talks with people from the union and authors of the bill have been always come to leaving YouTube outside the bill. It says that it is not applied to the services with mostly user content,” Volin said.

“It’s true that YouTube has professional content as well, but it mainly deals not with the sale of professional content, like online cinemas do, but with the use of client content. That’s why we know for sure that the bill implies no restrictions for YouTube.”

YouTube, owned by U.S. giant Google, declined to comment.

Anna Lander, a spokeswoman for the Media Communications Union, said the bill does not involve YouTube. “No conclusion of the union’s legal committee with notes to the bill exists,” Lander said.

While working on the bill, experts said the initiative should not be applicable to user content, including YouTube, which was taken into consideration, she said.

The union also wants messengers to restrict massive mailouts, for which connection operators are currently liable. The bill was shunned by the industry, and the union promised to deliberate on it.

The document was submitted to the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, on November 25. To become law, it must be approved by the parliament and signed by the president.

Business daily Vedomosti reported on its Web site that video services Google Play, iTunes and Apple TV would be obliged to comply with the initiative if the bill is approved.

A union spokesperson said the bill is applicable to all the services that provide access to paid content, content under subscriptions or for advertisement views and whose traffic exceeds 100,000 people within three months. Foreign capital in such projects should be below 20%.

Should the bill be approved, foreign companies would be forced either to fully localize their services or quit the country. The document does not stipulate any exceptions for Apple or Google, the spokesperson said.

The union comprises such telecom operators as MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon, as well as such media companies as Gazprom-Media and CTC Media. According to association Internet-video, the operators and media holdings, whose interests are presented by the union, account for 12% of the online video market in the Runet, a Russian-speaking part of the Internet. Independent projects account for over 70% of the market.

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