MOSCOW, July 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CTC Media, Inc. ("CTC Media" or "the Company") (Nasdaq:CTCM), Russia's leading independent media company, supported the initiative of the largest Russian media companies to consolidate efforts in protecting intellectual property rights in the information and telecommunications networks. Communique, a recommendatory document on coordinated activities of the intellectual property rights owners, was signed on July 25, 2013 in the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (ROSKOMNADZOR).
Along with CTC Media, Inc. the project was backed by the head of ROSKOMNADZOR and executives of the largest intellectual property rights holding companies, telecommunications service providers and Internet resources, including Channel One, VGTRK, Mobile TeleSystems, MegaFon, National Media Group, Rutube and about 30 other companies.
Sergey Petrov, CTC Media Chief Broadcasting Officer, commented: "Despite an ongoing debate over the details of the new anti-piracy law the need for regulation in the distribution of the digital content on the web in general does not raise any doubts. The scale of the problem in our country is hard to overestimate. Restriction of the piracy will allow for more effective monetization of the intellectual property rights and will open new possibilities for various media segments development, providing conditions for fair competition.
"This document is the first agreement between the industry leaders aimed at coordinated actions against piracy. We hope that the communique will lay the foundation for fruitful cooperation among media platform, telecom operators and copyright holders whose assets are regulated by the new law. We do also hope that it will help further improve the procedures against illegal actions of pirates. It is an important step towards a more mature and developed market."
About CTC Media, Inc.
CTC Media is a Russian leading independent media company, with operations throughout Russia and elsewhere in the CIS. It operates three free-to-air television networks in Russia – CTC, Domashny and PERETZ – as well as Channel 31 in Kazakhstan and a TV company in Moldova, with a combined potential audience of over 150 million people. The international pay-TV version of the CTC channel is available in North America, Europe, Central Asia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Middle East and Kyrgyzstan. CTC Media also has its own TV content production facilities through its subsidiary Story First Production and a number of digital entertainment media assets: videomore.ru, domashiniy.ru, ctc.ru, peretz.ru. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "CTCM". For more information on CTC Media, please visit ctcmedia.ru.