An extensive Russian offensive on European satellites was behind several disruptions to the children’s channel BabyTV, in which Russian propaganda played on the channel multiple times in the spring, Nieuwsuur discovered. The disruption to the Dutch children’s programming was a side effect of a larger sabotage action against European satellites. Russia has attacked at least six European satellites in recent months, the current affairs program reported.
The Russian sabotage affected the Netherlands for the first time on March 16. KPN broadcast an hour of interference instead of children’s television. No one noticed at the time. At the same time, the Ukrainian television channel FreedomTV was interrupted, showing a Russian propaganda video instead of the normal programming.
According to Nieuwsuur, the Ukrainian channel runs via the same television satellite as BabyTV, a satellite owned by the French company Eutelsat. Russia hijacked that satellite twice more. On March 28 and April 17, Dutch customers of VodafoneZiggo and Odido suddenly saw Russian war propaganda on the BabyTV channel. Viewers in Ukraine saw the same propaganda at the same time. KPN never broadcast the propaganda - the provider automatically showed an interference screen instead.