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DIGITIZATION
OF NTV
I. NTV goes
digital.
NTV Plus, a
company which was born a little later than NTV and which
deals with satellite television, has started a new major
project which can rightfully be described as a project
for the 21st century. Sergey Dedukh reports.
[Correspondent]
An era
of digital television started in Russia on 1st
February. The Bonum-1 satellite, belonging to the
Media-Most company, was launched from Cape
Canaveral. It broadcasts to the entire European
Russia, from Kaliningrad to the Urals and from Murmansk
down to the southern regions. Subscribers to NTV
Plus, who have special digital decoders, will be able to
receive additional 17 channels. (?Yevgeniy
Yakovich), director general of NTV Plus, says that the
new satellite is capable of broadcasting up to 50 digital
channels. . . .
By the end of
this year, NTV Plus plans to increase the number of
channels up to 30. . . . It is from here that NTV
Plus broadcasts its programmes. In six months, the
first building of NTV television centre was built on
Skolkovskoye Highway, near Moscow Circular Road.
The building for our news service, film studios and many
other structures will spring up soon. Thanks to
astronomers, this aerial is pointed precisely at the
Bonum-1 satellite. The satellite lies in a
geostationary orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km and
completes one revolution in 24 hours. Therefore, it
can always be seen in the same spot over Lake Victoria in
Africa. But the aerial of the satellite is always
directed at Russia.
Bonum-1 is guided
from a flight control centre situated in the same
building. The satellite is being guided only by
Russian citizens.
[Aleksandr Zhodzishskiy, head of the ground
control]
We do
not have many staff. But our personnel is highly
qualified. Those working here are mainly people who
have designed our satellites and control systems.
Many are from the research institute for space
instrument-building, from the radio research institute
and from the former military. . . .
[Correspondent]
The Bonum-1
satellite has yet another important mission. It has
reserved Russia’s place in the geostationary orbit,
one of the five allocated to our country by an
international agreement.
[Lev Kantor, chief designer of the Bonum-1
private joint-stock company]
Having found
resources to make this satellite and create this system,
Media-Most has in fact ensured that Russia reserves a
most important resource which cannot be replaced.
If these sites are not occupied and taken hold of now,
they will be lost for us very quickly because there are
many other claimants.
[Correspondent]
Media-Most
will not stop here. They have plans for launching
other satellites to broadcast to Siberia and the Far
East.
NTV, Moscow,
February 7, 1999
II. EuroNews
now on Russia’s NTV Plus digital platform.
EuroNews,
Europe’s leading news channel, launched this week on
Russia’s first digital platform NTV+ [NTV Plus].
The channel, the
only foreign news channel on the platform, will be
available in English.
In addition to
Russia, the service will be distributed in Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Moldova,
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Initially the
platform will offer around 20 channels and the package is
expected to be expanded to between 30 and 50. Other
foreign channels on NTV+ include Discovery, MTV-Russia
and Eurosport.
Director-general
of NTV+ Yevgeny Yakovich said: “Thanks to
Euronews, our viewers will be able to watch news and
events from around the world every day. As EuroNews
is at present the only news channel in our basic package,
its role as a news provider is of paramount
importance.”
James Baer,
EuroNews director-general said: “We are
delighted to be part of this exciting development in
Russia. EuroNews looks forward to providing NTV+
viewers with a top quality service of rapid, reliable and
totally independent information.”
EuroNews, which
now broadcasts in digital via Hot Bird 5, reaches more
than 94 million homes in Europe, the Mediterranean Basin,
Africa and Latin America.
EuroNews press
release, Lyon, February 4, 1999
III. NTV
Plus channel digital package launched.
Broadcasting of
the NTV Plus digital package started [on 1st
February]. A unique, so-called digital platform has
been created in Russia for the first time, which includes
a Bonum-1/Most-1 television satellite and an Earth relay
station equipped with modern digital
equipment. This will create unique technical
opportunities for receiving high-quality images and
sound, and, besides this, it will make possible a
manifold increase in the number of television channels.
It is known that
the Bonum-1/Most-1 satellite was built by the American
company Hughes and launched on 23rd November 1998 with
the American Delta-2 launch vehicle from the cosmodrome
in Cape Canaveral. Essentially, that day may be
regarded as the real beginning of digital television in
Russia. For, before that, digital technology was
only used for distributing the signal and not for direct
broadcasting. Bonum-1/Most-1 also became the first
Russian television satellite which was not state-backed.
The ITAR-TASS
correspondent was told at the NTV Plus press service that
the basic digital package includes NTV, TNT, The World of
Cinema [Mir kino], Our Cinema [Nashe Kino],
Children’s World [Detskiy Mir], MTZH-Rossiya
[presumably, MTV-Russia] and eight foreign channels,
which include Eurosport and Euronews, musical and
children’s channels, channels carrying television
serials and fashion, some of which are translated into
Russian.
Three additional
packages are planned besides the basic one: a
detective film channel, an erotic night-time channel and
a sports channel. The cost of a subscription to the
basic package is a sum equivalent to 16 dollars,
including VAT.
The number of
channels will constantly be increased. This summer
the basic package will already include more than 20
channels, they confirmed at the NTV Plus press service.
ITAR-TASS news agency
(World Service), Moscow, February 1, 1999
IV. NTV
licensed to broadcast via private satellite.
[Presenter]
[30th December]
is an outstanding day in the history of Russian satellite
TV. A private television company, NTV, has for the
first time obtained a licence to broadcast via a private
satellite over Russian territory.
[Correspondent] From February, viewers in European Russia
will start receiving dozens of NTV-Plyus satellite TV
programmes. The company received a state licence
for direct satellite broadcasting [on 30th
December]. We have now been given an opportunity to
become independent from the state-owned broadcasting
centres and signal-transmitting facilities. This is
an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the Russian
media. . . .
The signal
transmission satellite [Bonum 1] has been launched into
space from a US launching pad. Digital broadcasting
is planned to ensure the quality of the picture.
From 1st
February, NTV-Plyus subscribers will be receiving 18
channels in addition to the usual programmes:
several for children, both Russian and foreign-made, two
educational channels about the planet and its
inhabitants, a special soap opera channel, and 24-hour
broadcasting of Russian and foreign cinema, with a
special channel entirely dedicated to blockbusters.
There will be a lot of sports from all around the world,
a lot of music and several foreign news programmes, very
useful for those who study languages.
Although the
financial crisis has affected the development plans, the
current 1,500 subscribers to NTV-Plyus will be able to
receive over 50 channels within 18 months. The
negotiations with Russian and foreign TV companies are
under way.
NTV, Moscow,
December 30, 1998
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