TVS (Russia)

TVS Television (russian: Телекомпания ТВС) was a private Russian television network which was shut down by the Press Ministry of Russia on June 22, 2003. Translation of Where The End Began For TVS. Kommersant, June 23, 2003, p. 4. Media-Sotsium was a nonprofit partnership, founded by Arkady Volsky, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and Yevgeny Primakov, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Creation

On January 11, 2002, a separate Russian television channel, TV-6 lost a court battle over bankruptcy and was placed into liquidation by a unanimous decision of thirteen judges of the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court. States that there were "13 arbitration judges", not 14.

At midnight on January 22, 2002 the Press Ministry pulled TV-6 off the air. The frequency was temporarily filled with programming from the NTV Plus Sports satellite channel. The auction for TV-6's old frequency took place on March 27, 2002. The Media-Sotsium partnership won the frequency auction, becoming the licensee and broadcaster, with the employees of the former channel TV-6 forming much of the production staff.

On June 1, 2002 TVS began broadcasting. On July 22, 2002 the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled that MNVK was taken off the air unlawfully.

Editorial policy

Many Russians and foreigners consider TVS' editorial policy to be critical towards the government of Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Kasyanov. It was considered to be the last channel with completely independent editorial policy.

Closure

Suffering from low ratings (the main channel projects, ''Dengi'' series and reality show ''Za steklom 3: Teper ty v armii'' failed) and poor advertising revenue, TVS had many financial problems. TVS's debt to Vneshekonombank (the Bank for Foreign Economic Activity) came to about US$100 million. TVS also owed more than $6 million in back pay to employees, who had not been paid for some three months.

Mostelekom (the city-owned cable operator that carried TVS in Moscow) began switching TVS' signal off Moscow's cable television networks on June 2, 2003, which rendered more than 90% of Moscow residents unable to view it. Mostelekom demanded that the TV company's shareholders pay off arrears of RUB 245,672m ($8 million).

On June 17, 2003 TVS editor-in-chief Evgeny Kiselyov announced that lack of funding had made it impossible for the company to continue operating, and that after June 23 the channel suspended broadcasting.

Stating it was "for viewers' benefit" the Ministry of Press switched off all TVS broadcasts on June 22, 2003 – 24 hours before the shutdown planned by station management was to happen. Like the closure of TV-6 the year before, the regularly scheduled programming was suddenly interrupted by a brief announcement that the channel was "taken off the air" before switching to a testcard."Farewell! We are taken off the air"
/ref> It was widely speculated in the press that such a hurried closure was performed to prevent the final broadcast of Evgeny Kiselyov's "Itogi" show, the only remaining opposition political broadcast at the time. Later MNVK allowed the state all-sports channel to broadcast on the vacant channel 6. Text of report by Russian newspaper Kommersant on 24 September Translation of: Government Hits The 'Off' Switch Again. -- Yevgeny Kiselyov Doesn't Even Get to Say Goodbye. Kommersant, June 23, 2003, pp. 1, 4.

At the same time, former TVS employees moved to work on other TV channels, both national and regional or international (Channel One, VGTRK - Russia, Kultura, Sport and Vesti, TV Center "," The third channel "," The fifth channel ", REN-TV, TNT, STS, 7TV, RBK-TV," TV Stolitsa ", RTVi, Euronews), on the radio" Echo of Moscow Most of the channel's employees for several years or have completely left journalism. Some of the staff went to small production production studios that worked with broadcasters under a contract. Many programs aired on TVS (which closed both with the channel and before the events of June 22) were subsequently restarted at different times on other channels, both on the above and on some others (among them - Domashny, DTV, Bibigon, Television Ladies' Club, Humor TV, Disney Channel (USA), Cartoon Network, Twice Two, PBS).

See also

* Media freedom in Russia
* NTV

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvs (Russia)
Defunct television channels in Russia
Television channels and stations established in 2002
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003
Russian-language television stations
2002 establishments in Russia
2003 disestablishments in Russia