Translated material
Gift channel
The classics of Soviet animation will return to Rossiya
The long saga with the return to Russia of the rights to broadcast famous Soviet cartoons has finally ended. Yesterday it became known that the rights to them were completely bought by businessman Alisher Usmanov, who immediately transferred all the animated films to the fund of the recently created state children's channel "Bibigon".The history of the “emigration” of rights to such famous Russian cartoons as “Cheburashka”, “Hedgehog in the Fog”, “The Scarlet Flower”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “Mowgli”, etc., is extremely complicated in the USA . In 1992, the American company Films by Jove, owned by actor Oleg Vidov, bought the rights to show cartoons from Soyuzmultfilm for a period of 10 years, and in 1993 extended the contract for another 20 years. Thus, Soyuzmultfilm deprived itself of income from the sale of screening rights and, in general, any rights to cartoons, many of which became true classics. However, after this, the authorities quickly came to their senses and challenged the deal: in 1994, some of the paintings were returned to the country.
In the spring, reports appeared that an unknown domestic businessman was in negotiations with Films by Jove. After some time, it became known that Mr. Usmanov wanted to become the savior of cartoons. At first, negotiations between the parties were not easy, but by September, it was apparently possible to fully agree on the details of the deal. As Mr. Usmanov's press service reported yesterday, Swinstar Holdings Limited, owned by the businessman, acquired a set of intellectual property rights from Films by Jove on September 3. How much the purchase cost Alisher Usmanov, his press service for Vremya Novostey refused to specify.
Immediately after acquiring all the rights to the cartoons, Mr. Usmanov transferred them to the state, or more precisely, to the children's television channel "Bibigon", created by VGTRK. “All rights to the cartoons were transferred to us free of charge,” the channel’s press service told Vremya Novostei. At the same time, it is not entirely clear why Mr. Usmanov decided to give the monopoly on famous cartoons to a state channel that does not even have its own frequencies, but broadcasts on the frequencies of channels included in VGTRK. After all, Soyuzmultfilm, which previously owned the rights to Soviet animated classics, could “supply” all Russian TV with films. However, the businessman’s press service assures that it is Bibigon that can make cartoons more accessible: “Transferring the rights to the state channel is the principled position of Alisher Usmanov.”