Russia’s National Broadcasting Company launches 12 new pay-TV channels

BY A CORRESPONDENT

17 May, 2007: Russia’s National Broadcasting Company has launched 12 new channels on the W4 satellite of Eutelsat Communications with a view to expanding its Tricolor television platform.

The new channels were the result of signing an agreement on February 1, 2007, for leasing a second transponder on W4, between Eutelsat and RSCC, acting on behalf of the National Broadcasting Company.

The Tricolor platform, launched in Russia in November 2005 as a free package of 15 channels accessed via a decoder developed and commercialized by General Satellite, today serves 800,000 homes.

With good sales of receivers since the beginning of 2007, Tricolor expects that it can reach 1.2 million homes by the end of the year.

Tricolor’s main target are the estimated 50 million viewers in western parts of Russia (up to and including the Urals) living in rural areas with limited offer of channels through terrestrial reception.

The platform was launched in November 2005 on one transponder on Eutelsat’s W4 satellite as a subscription-free, digital package of Russian national and regional channels – with the only cost being for the receiver.

Encouraged by rising receiver sales, Tricolor is now moving into the second phase of its development with the launch of 12 new channels available in low-cost thematic packages.

The new offer, called Optimum, is commercialized in six packages branded Optimum, each containing two channels with the same theme.

According to Mordachev Viacheslav, CEO of National Broadcasting Company, with strong demand from Russian television viewers for new digital channels, the company is convinced that the new offer will be a popular choice. The subscription packages also comprise a new platform for Russian and international content providers to reach into television homes in Russia, Viacheslav added.