13 july 2010

Sergei Sobyanin: “The government will finish building up the second and third TV multiplexes by the end of 2010

Participants:

Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Government Staff Sergei Sobyanin held a meeting of the government commission on the development of radio and television broadcasting. In his opening remarks, the deputy prime minister said that the government would finish building up the second and third TV multiplexes by the end of 2010. These packages of digital television channels broadcast on a single frequency will greatly increase the number of available channels. "In the second six months of the year we will set forth the principles for building up the second and third multiplexes as well as for converting frequencies," the deputy prime minister said.

The first multiplex, which was stipulated by the federal programme for developing digital radio and television broadcasting in June 2009, included Channel One, Rossiya, Vesti Plus, Kultura, Sport, NTV, Channel 5 and Detsky Kanal, as well as radio stations Mayak, Radio Rossii and Vesti FM. The multiplex is already broadcast in Russia's Far East and the Kaliningrad Region.

The deputy prime minister also emphasised the need for further work on bringing the activity of foreign TV broadcasters in Russia in line with the country's legislation. "Over 100 foreign channels are currently broadcast in Russia, but over 20 years most of them have operated without being registered as a media outlet or licensed, which is in breach of the law," Sergei Sobyanin said. By today almost 50 foreign channels have registered as mass media outlets in Russia. "So, the situation has been remedied," the deputy prime minister added.