ATR

ATR (Cyrillic: АТР) is a Ukrainian TV Channel whose target audience is Crimean Tatars. It was broadcasting in Crimea, Ukraine from 1 September 2006 until 1 April 2015 when it was forced to shut down by annexing Russian authorities after failing to register under Russian law. In mid-June 2015 the channel resumed its broadcasting in mainland Ukraine and has since then been located in Kyiv. When located in Crimea most of the channel's programs were in Russian (60%) with 35% in Crimean Tatar and 5% in Ukrainian. The channel uses Tamga as its brand logo. History The channel began to broadcast on 1 September 2006. Since 2012 it has also been available via satellite. ATR's founder and owner is businessman Lenur İslâmov. ATR ran strongly pro-Ukrainian coverage of the events leading up to the 2014 Crimean referendum that led to the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. After the annexation ATR received a formal warning over "extremist activities" and although is stayed fairly critical, it avoided terms like "annexation" and "occupation". In 2015 the channel changed its programming; it cut political talk shows and news and instead focused on cultural programs.