25th, decimeter, European

By the decision of the Federal Competition Commission under the Ministry of Press, JSC European Broadcasting Company, which broadcasts Euronews television programs in Russian, was recognized as the winner of the tender for broadcasting to Moscow and the Moscow region on the 25th decimeter TV channel. In addition to the European Broadcasting Company, OJSC Television and Radio Company Petersburg, OJSC Association of Satellite Television (AST), CJSC 21st Century TV, and State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Podmoskovye also applied for channel 25. This was the third competition for the right to broadcast on the 25th television channel. During the two previous competitions, the federal competition commission was not satisfied with the proposals submitted by the applicants.

Deputy Chairman of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Andrei BYSTRITSKY, who supervises the Euronews project in Russia, told Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent Maxim BALUTENKO about plans to broadcast Euronews on the won frequency.

-- When will Euronews actually start broadcasting on Channel 25?

“I hope soon enough.” Unfortunately, this is primarily a complex technical issue. This is a whole procedure, and depending on the situation, the time frame for launching Euronews programs can range from ten days to three months. We are, of course, interested in launching a television product on the channel as soon as possible, but I repeat, everything comes down to technical and technological issues. We couldn't solve them before we won the competition, but today we are working on them closely.

-- What roles do the European Broadcasting Company and Euronews play in this situation?

-- The European Broadcasting Company does not need a large staff. Now these are several employees who are primarily engaged in technical work. Euronews produces programs, and these programs can already be watched on various satellite channels, including Kosmos-TV.

-- Will conceptual changes be made to Euronews broadcasting?

-- Of course not. Our gain on channel 25 is, first of all, the opportunity to obtain a means of signal delivery. Of course, the Russian version of Euronews can and should actively develop, and we are discussing this today with our Western colleagues (this summer, VGTRK became the owner of 1.8% of the shares of the Sesemie concern, which owns 51% of the shares of Euronews. - Ed. ). In time we will be able to move forward. We have a large number of plans, but we must implement them with the consent of Euronews. The existing version will be broadcast on the channel in the near future. We will make all innovations gradually, as we study the audience, their requests and reactions. Preliminarily, such work is already underway. Of course, today we cannot yet give serious assessments of the audience without starting serious broadcasting.

I would like to note one more point. Individual State Television and Radio Broadcasting Companies, which are part of the VGTRK holding, are already set up to rebroadcast Euronews programs to one degree or another. This is also a fairly lengthy process, also associated with various technical subtleties. However, we hope that this type of broadcasting will be present soon.

Interviewed by Maxim BALUTENKO