The businessman received the rights to broadcast in Russia the channels of the French AB Groupe

The owner of Fashion TV Russia and the Megapolis FM radio station, Alexander Shustorovich, received the rights to broadcast in Russia and the CIS eight TV channels of the Franco-Belgian media company AB Groupe, including XXL, Encyclopedya, AB Moteur, etc. The TV channels will be managed by companies that are 100% owned Mr. Shustorovich and members of his media group Pleados.

The agreement with the Russian businessman was confirmed by AB Groupe press secretary Julia Bouillague. Mr. Shustorovich clarified that “the process of obtaining licenses for broadcasting most of the eight channels has already been completed.” The financial director of the Pleados group, Alexander Zhigulev, says that licenses have already been received by the erotic channel XXL, AB Moteur (topics - auto racing, motorsports, etc.), Chasse et Peche ("Hunting and Fishing"), Encyclopedya (films and programs about culture) , Animaux (channel about animals) and Escales (documentaries and programs). In the future, it is possible to include Russian content in the program of TV channels. For the development of each of the channels, a Russian legal entity was created, owned by Mr. Shustorovich and part of his Pleados group of companies.

Pleados and AB Groupe did not disclose the terms of the agreement. After concluding an agreement on broadcasting the Fashion TV channel in Russia and the CIS in 2007, Alexander Shustorovich himself told Kommersant that every year the rights holders were supposed to receive a fixed income from the channel’s turnover. And the cost of the rights was then estimated at no more than $1 million per year. A top manager of one of the cable TV channels says that annually Mr. Shustorovich’s structures can pay AB Groupe from 15% to 30% of revenue.

AB Groupe owns a library of 1.2 thousand television programs in French with a total duration of 37 thousand hours. It supplies products to 22 European TV channels. In 2007, the French media group TF1 acquired 33.5% of AB for €230 million, valuing the entire group at €686.6 million. Revenue in 2008 was €56.8 million, operating profit was €16 million.

Alexander Shustorovich is the owner of the Megapolis FM radio station, the Fashion TV Russia company, 12 book and magazine publishing houses, and he also owns 50% of the Olympus advertising company.

Western TV channels are forced to look for licensees in Russia: according to the media law, they can broadcast in the country only by obtaining a license from Rossvyaznadzor, but according to Article 19.1 of this law, foreign legal entities, as well as Russian ones with foreign participation of 50% or more, “do not have the right to establish organizations who carry out television broadcasting.

According to Mr. Zhigulev, Pleados is now negotiating with a number of cable operators to expand broadcasting and include new TV channels in the network. Akado-Stolitsa says that AB Moteur and Fashion TV are present in their network through their French distributor and agent Universal Communications. They learned about the existence of Pleados from Kommersant journalists.

According to the general director of National Telecommunications Nikolai Zatsepin, AB Groupe TV channels may be of interest to regional cable operators. “During a crisis, many companies cannot afford expensive Western TV channels. In this situation, AB Groupe’s niche and inexpensive channels can become an alternative,” he says. “Now the inclusion of any new paid channel is not economically feasible for the operator,” doubts Alexey Petrov, development director of the large regional cable operator Multiregion.

Olga Kommersant-Goncharova, Anna Kommersant-Balashova, Tamila Kommersant-Jojua

Alexander Shustorovich will try on XXL