State-Run Russian News Channel Makes a Play for Serbian Market

Text of report by Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS

Belgrade, 19 May: The [state-run] Russian TV news channel Vesti- 24 is offering Serbia conditions that could not be more favourable. As of today, local cable networks will be able to receive its signal and distribute Vesti-24′s programmes to their subscribers free of charge, Dmitriy Mednikov, the Russian TV channel’s editor-in-chief, said today at a news conference in Belgrade.

According to him, Serbia will now be the only country in the world with which Vesti-24 cooperates in this way. “We are also going to enter the Serbia market with other technological investments,” Mednikov pointed out. The TV channel is also showing an interest in setting up joint business projects with Serbian colleagues. There is a possibility that the Vesti-FM radio station will also start broadcasting in Serbia soon, he said.

At present, local cable network subscribers can receive the programmes of [state-controlled] Channel One [Russia's most popular TV channel], while people who own satellite dishes can also see RTR- Planeta [the external service of Rossiya, Russia's second most popular TV channel]. Vesti-24′s initiative will substantially increase the Serbian audience’s access to up-to-date Russian- language TV news.

In parallel with the Vesti-24 signal, from now on Serbian cable operators also have the opportunity to receive the programmes of RTR- Planeta, legally and for minimal payment.

Originally published by ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1454 19 May 08.

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