O2TV (stylized as O!2) is a Russian independent TV channel, the target

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

of which are young people between 16 and 35, who, as the 2006 presentation reads, would constitute an influential portion of the

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...

in the Russian

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

and presidential elections.Presentation of a new broadcast format of the First Youths TV-Channel O2TV
October 12, 2006, by MediaAtlas.Ru (in Russian) The O2TV

exceeds 17 million people and adds another million every month. The channel is broadcast in over 300 Russian cities, as well as in cities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).Presentation of the channel at O2TV website
(in Russian)

History

In 2006 the channel, which had already existed for 2 years by broadcasting music, was transformed into and rebranded as socially political. At that time it had a 'reach' of only 17 million people, including 1.3 million Moscowites. According to the President of the channel Vasily Lavrov, "We had the aim to create an independent media resource, and we did it." The title 'O2TV' was derived from the chemical designation for an

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

molecule, O2. A popular brand on the channel — "oxygenic television", worked on the similarity of the Russian slang taboo adjective which means "perfect, great".

Positioning

O2TV is positioned as "one of the first TV projects which aren't devoted to housewives". Instead, it's "television for youth, those who are little interested in the traditional TV stuff, those who live a full life". The major principle of the channel is live communication with the viewers. O2TV doesn't buy any content, but produces its own. According to Vasily Lavrov, "O2TV is antitelevision in the sense, what's the today TV in our country. We are against bubblegum music, platitude, beavisbuttheads, petrosyans, serdyuchkas and the total seamy side of traditional TV. Our task is to form a sound world-view of young people, but not to copy the consciousness of a dumb western inhabitant. In our country clever, talented people live who should recognize themselves on the TV screen."News of O2TV
February 2007 (in Russian)

References

External links

O2TV web-site
(in Russian)
O2TV online broadcast
Mass media companies of Russia Russian-language television stations in Russia Companies based in Moscow Television channels and stations established in 2006 2006 establishments in Russia {{russia-tv-stub