Life TV channel warned operators about closure

The Life TV channel notified operators that it would cease broadcasting, told RBC. representatives of the National Satellite Company (operating under the Tricolor, NTV Plus and Rostelecom brands)

According to Valery Kostalev from Rostelecom, on August 18 the company “unexpectedly received a notice to stop broadcasting the Lifenews channel.”

The CEO of the News media holding, Aram Gabrelyanov, who owns Life, sent operators “letters that there will be streams instead of stories.”

A TASS source called August 18 the channel’s last day of operation. “All that remains is the site and our projects, of course. (TV broadcasting) stops completely. On the frequency there will be an appeal to TV viewers to follow Life news on the website and on social networks,” explained the agency’s interlocutor at the media holding.

According to him, 90 people will be laid off, but the same number will remain to work on streaming broadcasting. Gabrelyanov previously explained his departure from the airwaves by saying that “people only watch important news online; for pure news there are information sites, public pages and Telegram channels.” The first deputy head of the media holding, Anatoly Suleymanov, warned about plans to leave the airwaves back in 2016.

In 2009, the publication LifeNews.ru was created as part of the media holding, and in 2013 the Life TV channel was launched; the online publication in 2016, after a relaunch, also became known as Life. At the same time, instead of the Russian News Service, Gabrelyanov’s holding company began broadcasting Radio Life sound.