Major European distributors BBC Studios, All3Media, ITV Studios and Fremantle have put trade with Russia on pause in light of the escalating situation in Ukraine.
A BBC spokesperson said in the last few minutes that the BBC’s executive team had met today and “decided to stop all content licensing to Russian customers.”
Elsewhere, a spokeswoman for All3Media told Deadline the outfit has “halted its business negotiations with Russian broadcasting clients,” an ITV Studios spokesman confirmed it has “stopped new sales to Russian clients as we do not believe it is appropriate to be doing business with them at this time” and a Fremantle spokesman said the same.
The ITV Studios spokesman said the decision had been made “independently” of UK TV trade body Pact’s call to its members to stop trading with Russia, and added that Russian clients will not be attending its London Screenings event at the West End Odeon on Friday.
Pact, an influential screen organization, earlier today urged its 700-strong TV producer member base to suspend all co-operation and trade with Russia, just minutes after Mip TV owner RX France effectively ended any Russian presence at the Cannes market in April.
Meanwhile, film festivals have been cancelling Russian films from their lineups and the likes of Disney, Sony and Paramount are pausing theatrical distribution and production in Russia.
The Russia/Ukraine conflict is into its fifth day and shows no signs of slowing.
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