Shutdown of ATK
The shutdown of ATK, a commercial television channel in Ashtalaia, occurred at precisely 23:26:48 (the time recorded by the clocks in the playout room when the signal was cut) on the night of April 25, 2010. Its shutdown triggered changes (mostly negative) to the Ashtalaian media scene.
Context[edit | edit source]
As early as 2003, media outlets showing opposition to the successive left and right governments were suffering from systemic shutdowns, but the situation started to aggravate from late 2009.
Before that, on March 7, 2009, ATK was labelled as a "foreign agent" due to a law that forbade Ashtalaian television channels with connections to Flarlandian individuals to operate on the terrestrial network. This put ATK in danger, and the channel had to appeal to the regulatory council.
