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 2009, 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.
Events of December 27, 2013[edit | edit source]
At 06:18, the Ashtalaian Broadcasting Council unanimously determined ATK's license to be peremptory, with the company having to surrender and close its four television channels (ATK, A2, 24, OK) by midnight. At 06:25, ATK received confirmation of the closure.
Within two minutes, ATK's morning news service was interrupted by news of the impending closure "It's with great sadness that the government took the decision of closing ATK today. The 19:30 bulletin will be the last news production from our channel"
Climax[edit | edit source]
Detention of Michal Hardi by the First Capital Command, channel closure and subsequent murder[edit | edit source]
At 22:05, following the end of the main news, Michal Hardi was detained by a member of the First Capital Command (VKK) and taken to a chamber, fifteen minutes later he was given the choice of being murdered while his shutdown tape (recorded on December 28, 1999) played on the channel. There was a TV set in the chamber. The police tried raiding the chamber, trying to detain the VKK members and saving Hardi, but by the time of the closure announcement, Hardi was being asphyxiated.
During the fatal interaction, the VKK member told Hardi if he was intoxicated, given that he was unable to deliver coherent phrases during the final news bulletin.
At 23:01, the police-ordered emergency ambulance arrived at the scene, taking Hardi to the Twins Medical Center. Hardi was pronounced dead at 00:15.