What TV channels will appear this year. Experts spoke about the immediate prospects for Russian television

From January 2019, Russia will completely switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting. Russians, in order not to find themselves in front of a black screen, need to get a TV that supports the digital broadcasting DVBT-2, or a special set-top box for an analog TV.

At a meeting in the Federation Council dedicated to the modernization of television broadcasting in the Russian Federation, the director of the department of state policy in the field of media of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, Ekaterina Larina, announced: federal television channels will soon begin to tell viewers about Russia’s transition from January 2019 from analogue television to digital terrestrial.

Digital terrestrial television broadcasting, recalls Prime, will take place over a network that includes two multiplexes (packages of TV channels) of 10 channels each, as well as three radio channels, and will be available to more than 98% of the population. Analog TV is planned to be turned off after the New Year holidays. "Very important task, which we have been doing in collaboration with local authorities for more than six months - the task is to inform the population, to explain how to connect to digital. An active information campaign is already underway in all regions and will soon be launched on federal channels explanatory campaign,” noted Ekaterina Larina.

She noted that, for example, if the TV only receives analog signal, the letter “A” appears on the screen next to the TV company logo. This will make it clear to the viewer that he needs to change the TV or purchase digital set-top box, supporting the DVBT-2 standard.

Progress does not stand still, and if we want to keep up with the times, we must be able to adapt, says political scientist, vice-president of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Politics Alexander Karas. According to him, it is obvious that for the vast majority of the population these changes will not bring any inconvenience, but on the contrary, they will add comfort: the choice of channels will increase, it will become better quality pictures and sound. In addition, most large cities have already switched to digital format and their residents will not notice any changes.

But we should not forget, the expert says, that residents of rural settlements remain at risk, especially older people who are accustomed to the traditional way of life and do not want to give up their attachments. Therefore, it is very important here to give them maximum attention, to help them understand the technical intricacies, so that at one moment they do not feel on the sidelines of life.

It is not necessary to buy a new expensive TV; you can limit yourself to purchasing a set-top box of the appropriate format, which is much cheaper, adds Alexander Karas. Therefore in in this case the main thing is to properly organize the work of volunteers who will help residents of the outback to understand new trends. By the way, Ekaterina Larina also stated that such a service already exists.

Citizen with two bags

Russia is approaching the period when the quality of digital television with high-fidelity image transmission can be available to every citizen, no matter where he lives, Dmitry Zharsky, director of the Veta expert group, continues the topic. After switching off broadcasting from analogue TV, the coverage area in the country will reach 98%, which will become the most large network digital broadcasting in the world. For comparison: in some European cities such a network covers from 90% to 95% of broadcasts.

Plans for digitalization of broadcasting have existed since 2009, the expert adds that it was then that this strategy was adopted for execution. If we evaluate it objectively, now in almost every locality In Russia, regardless of geographical location and distance from the centers of civilization, 20 TV channels will be available to viewers. The first package (10 channels) will include: Channel 1, Russia 1, Match TV, NTV, Channel 5 Petersburg, Culture, Russia 24, Karusel, OTR, TV Center. The second multiplex or package of channels is more tuned to a young audience and its main function is entertainment and educational, this includes familiar channels such as: Ren TV, Spas, STS, Domashny, Friday, Zvezda, Mir, TNT, Muz-TV.

WITH technical side There is no particular reason to fear that the launch of digital TV throughout the country will be interrupted, Dmitry Zharsky is sure. In fact, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network” (RTRS) actually has almost all regions already ready to work with the new format. On current moment the first multiplex is already operating in most of the country. The network has been established in 83 out of 85 regions, 13 communication transmission facilities remain to be built on the territory of the annexed Crimea. If we talk about quantity, now 5015 of the 5028 necessary transmitters can already operate on the air.

It is also important to note, says Dmitry Zharsky, that the transition to digital and the active work of RTRS in cooperation with authorities to inform citizens can reduce the level of sales of such digital television operators as, for example, Tricolor TV, which is very popular in the regions and is no longer the first year provides quite affordable service on digital television.

Of course, channel packages in Tricolor number in the hundreds; almost any “assortment” is available there. But the analyst believes that there will be no need for it, since most users connected it to watch the most popular channels, which can now be watched for free, just by upgrading the TV once or purchasing a set-top box, which costs no more than 700 rubles at retail. The cost of a TV that accepts this format starts from 5.5 thousand rubles.

This analyst's remark seems very important. In no case should it be interpreted negatively in relation to Tricolor and any other television signal providers, such as the pioneer in this area NTV+ with its first “dishes”. The point is that, along with the availability of high-quality television in those places where it did not exist before, satellite and digital operators offer a wide range of TV channel packages to suit all tastes. Their purchase by TV viewers brings additional income to providers. But with the availability of state-owned “terrestrial digital TV” (by the way, what this is still needs to be explained), some TV viewers may prefer the free availability of two multiplexes to the opportunity to watch beyond their scope, including foreign TV content.

The transition to digital TV may be perceived negatively by part of the population with low level income, adds Alena Kuzmina, head legal department WebKontrol, so a very smooth and gradual transition is needed here (and not a simultaneous shutdown of citizens’ access to analog TV). With the introduction of anti-piracy legislation, she points out, we are now seeing a potential increase in the consumption of legal content among Russian users.

All more the population is ready to pay for content, she notes, since, for example, according to recent studies, the size of the market for online video services is growing. It takes certain time, but ultimately shows positive results. The joint fight of copyright holders against piracy also leads to an increase in the consumption of legal content. So the changes are positive from the point of view of content rights holders, she believes.

Only 29% of Russians choose watching TV programs as entertainment in free time, while among pensioners, 56% spend their leisure time watching TV. In the age group from 18 to 24 years old there are less than 10%

Photo: Roman Yarovitsyn / Kommersant

Russians still spend a lot of free time on household chores, children and dachas, but they began to watch less TV and spend more time walking, chatting with friends, pursuing hobbies and playing games. computer games, says a study by VTsIOM dedicated to answering the question of how the country’s residents spend their leisure time. The results of the study are at the disposal of RBC.

Sociologists have found that leisure activities have changed significantly over the past decade, with particularly dramatic changes occurring over the past seven years, from 2010 to 2017.

For example, only 29% devote their free time to watching TV and listening to the radio. Just seven years ago, 63% of citizens spent their free time this way. Television is still popular among pensioners: 56% of those who watch TV as a leisure activity in the group of people of retirement age, but only 8% of respondents aged 18 to 24 years old.

At the same time, the number of outdoor recreation lovers has doubled: from 17% in 2010 to 34% in 2017. The share of those engaged in home hobbies (handicrafts, photography, modeling, etc.) more than doubled, from 11% to 26%, respectively.

Russian citizens spend more and more free time on computers and Internet surfing. The share of those who gave this answer to sociologists increased from 5% in 2005 to 21% in 2017, and among citizens aged 18-24 years old this share today is 44%.

“Russians began to spend less free time on activities that do not require their active participation and more on activities that require high involvement (communication with family, playing sports, using the Internet, hobbies). The value of family is growing - citizens are ready to give it more and more of their time,” says VTsIOM analyst Ivan Lekontsev.

According to VTsIOM, more and more Russians are devoting their free time to children, household and dacha. In 2005, this figure was 40%, and in 2017 - already 60%.

The sociologist also noted the growing popularity of outdoor walks and sports. According to Lekontsev, this may partly be due to the conditional free nature of these types of recreation, and partly to the growing interest of Russians in sports and a healthy lifestyle over the past five years.

The VTsIOM telephone survey was conducted on November 20-21, 2017, and included 1,200 Russians aged 18 years and older.

Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov announced that in 2018 Russia will be able to abandon analogue television broadcasting. It is assumed that by this time the entire country will be ready to switch to digital television, however, not everyone shares the officials’ optimism. Lenta.ru found out why, after switching to digital, many Russians may lose access to television and how to avoid this.

Why does analog die?

According to Nikiforov, in 2018 the state will stop subsidizing analog television. This doesn't mean it will be turned off. The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications explained to Lenta.ru that TV channels, in addition to digital format Those who wish to broadcast in analog will have this opportunity: to do this, they just need to agree with the signal distributor - the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS). For example, they will be able to continue broadcasting analogue regional channels.

The transition to digital by 2018 is not new in itself. In 2009, when the excitement around the launch of digital TV in Russia was just gaining momentum, officials made rosy plans for a complete transition to new format broadcasting by 2015, later the plans were adjusted and a new milestone was named - 2018. It was assumed that by that time more than half of Russians would have acquired television receivers capable of reading a digital signal.

Why is digital better than analog?

Digital TV is different best quality, allows you to fit more channels in one frequency range, it is more resistant to interference. Often, dense urban areas contribute to the creation of ripples or stripes on television screens. Digital view transmission allows the signal to bypass these obstacles and produce a smooth picture at the output.

How do you “smoke” an analogue?

The transition to digital television is a worldwide trend. In the West, this process began ten years earlier than in Russia. Abroad, digital broadcasting began in the 1990s, while in Russia they began testing “digital” in 2000 (in the Nizhny Novgorod region). To date, almost all of Western Europe, Scandinavian countries, the USA, some CIS countries and Latin America have abandoned the analogue format. In 2017, completely abandon analogue broadcasting Ukraine is planning in favor of digital.

At the time when Luxembourg and the Netherlands switched completely to digital for the first time (in 2006), Russia had just created a government commission that began working on the concept of introducing new TV standards. It was headed by Dmitry Medvedev. Having become president in 2008, he became closely involved in television issues (at the same time an attempt was made to create public television, which resulted in the opening of the OTR channel with - approx. "Tapes.ru"). In 2009, the Federal Target Program was approved, according to which investments in digital television broadcasting amounted to almost 165 billion rubles.

It was decided that the new format would come to viewers’ homes in multiplexes - packages that are transmitted on the same frequency. The first multiplex included ten federal TV channels - Channel One, Russia 1, Russia 2 (later its frequencies were transferred to Match TV), NTV, Channel Five, Russia K, Russia 24, Karusel, freshly baked OTR and TV Center.

Seats in the second multiplex were put up for competition. Dozens of channels fought for the right to be publicly accessible throughout Russia. As a result, REN TV, STS, Spas, Domashny, TV-3, Friday, Zvezda, Mir, TNT and Muz-TV (now - "Yu"). Among the channels that applied, but did not enter the multiplex, were Russia Today, Dozhd, Peretz, NTV Plus, Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Channels have to pay a lot for the opportunity to be in a multiplex. Initially, it was planned that TV companies would pay RTRS almost a billion rubles annually to build the necessary infrastructure and maintain the signal. Subsequently, annual payments were reduced to 150 million, but from 2019, after the second multiplex is fully deployed, the cost of broadcasting there may again rise to a billion rubles.

For some channels this amount turned out to be unaffordable. Thus, the Orthodox “Spas”, which, as its general director states, exists solely on donations from viewers, still cannot pay off RTRS, and, as in July, does not have an agreement with the signal distributor at all.

Before the crisis, the authorities planned to launch a third multiplex, which would have included regional channels, but the idea failed - the idea was recognized as economically unprofitable. As a result, the third multiplex was launched only in Crimea due to the digital infrastructure that the peninsula inherited from Ukraine.

Who can be left without television?

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications explained to Lenta.ru that by 2018 digital broadcasting 98.1 percent of the Russian population will be covered (ten free channels the first multiplex will be available to 98.3 percent of the country's residents by the end of 2016). The remaining 1.9 percent are small populated or uninhabited localities, as well as polar explorer settlements. However, wide coverage does not mean that the new television will come to every home, says a top manager of a television company whose channel is included in one of the multiplexes, who wished to remain anonymous.

To connect to digital TV and watch 20 for free public TV channels, the subscriber's TV must be able to receive a DVB-T2 signal ( European standard digital terrestrial television second generation - approx. "Tapes.ru"). However, not all TVs are even modern models equipped with such a receiver. If the device does not support DVB-T2, the viewer will have to purchase a special set-top box with a receiver, which costs at least a thousand rubles.

Set-top boxes cannot be called expensive, “but judging by the fact that 30 percent of citizens cannot change old TV for a new one, they probably don’t have extra money to buy additional devices,” the channel manager suggested.

By the way, in 2012, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications proposed that regions provide several million low-income citizens with such devices. Whether the authorities plan to help beneficiaries with this is still unknown.

Lenta.ru’s interlocutor claims that not a single TV channel yet has an understanding of how the final transition from “analogue” to “digital” will take place (as well as no idea of the real losses they may incur). A sharp, overnight transition will not happen, he believes: there is a great risk that part of the population will be left without public channels, which could lead to public outrage.

Three large-scale reports "Russian television and radio broadcasting and the Internet. Status, trends and development prospects in 2017", prepared by the Faculty of Journalism of the Moscow state university under the general editorship of E. L. Vartanova and V. P. Kolomiets. The clients for the report on the television industry were Rospechat and the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters.

The report "Television in 2017" was prepared by a large team of authors, it used data from the NSC analytical center, the Public Opinion Foundation, the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia, research companies J'son and Partners Consulting, KVG Research, " TMT Consulting", Mediascope, Integrum news agency and - we are especially pleased to talk about this! - portal "Cable Guy". (The authorship of the sources of the other two reports is somewhat different).

Today we are publishing excerpts from this report.

Television in 2017

1.1. Implementation of the federal digital program. Results of the year

As a result of the measures taken by RTRS to fulfill the task of constructing the first multiplex facilities and providing the population with digital broadcasting within the time frame provided for by the Program, as of December 31, 2017, construction was completed and 5,019 communication facilities of the first multiplex were put on air (including 5,011 program ones and 8 - socially significant objects with a large population coverage in the regions of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th stages: Rostov region, Oryol region, Republic of Bashkortostan, Komi Republic).

Construction was also organized at 17 facilities in the Republic of Crimea, the commissioning date of which is planned by the Program in 2018.

Key indicator "Population share Russian Federation, having the ability to receive broadcast digital TV channels"exceeded the planned value for 2017 by 0.1% and reached the level of 98.3%. In 83 out of 85 regions, digital broadcasting coverage was more than 95%.

Subsystems technical accounting and operational management have been implemented in all branches of RTRS.

Until the end of 2018, part of RTRS’s costs for broadcasting television and radio channels included in the first broadcast multiplex will be paid for through federal budget subsidies. Broadcasting of TV channels included in the second multiplex is carried out by RTRS on a commercial basis in accordance with the terms of agreements with broadcasters.

1.2 Development of legislation and regulation

In 2017, changes regarding the regulatory regulation of television appeared in all four major laws for the media industry - “On Media mass media"(1991), "About communication" (2003), "About advertising" (2006) and "About information, information technology and on information protection" (2006).

Amendments to Article 35 of the Law "About the media" and to article 66 of the law "About communication" clarified the responsibilities of TV channels and telecom operators to broadcast official messages from executive authorities containing emergency information about the dangers that arise when emergency situations natural and man-made, as well as during the conduct of military operations, according to the rules of behavior of the population and the need to carry out protection measures. Such messages (alert signals) must be disseminated by media editorial offices in the relevant broadcast territories immediately and free of charge. Broadcasting of these messages by the operator is not considered an interruption in the provision of communication services to the broadcaster.

Amendments to a number of articles of the law “On the Mass Media” made changes to the procedure for registering media, including electronic (i.e. television channels). Starting from 2018, the issuance of paper certificates of media registration will cease, and the registration date will be considered the date of entry into the Roskomnadzor register. The service must be provided within 30 working days from the date of application. The amount of state duty for mass media registration depends on the territory of distribution. When calculating the duty, increasing and decreasing coefficients are maintained depending on the specialization of the media. A change of founder, change in the composition of co-founders, name(s), language(s), approximate topics and (or) specialization of the media, territory of distribution of media products, as well as the form and (or) type of periodic distribution of mass information must be formalized by making official changes to a record of media registration in the regulator's register; complete re-registration in these cases is not required. An editorial office that has temporarily suspended, stopped or resumed distribution of media is obliged to notify Roskomnadzor about this.

It has also been established that the editor-in-chief of the media cannot be a citizen serving a sentence in prison or having a criminal record for committing crimes using the media or information and telecommunication networks, or for committing crimes related to extremist activities, as well as a citizen who has not reached eighteen years of age or declared incompetent by a court.

Amendments to Article 27 of the Law "About advertising" a new product category was allowed on television. It is now permitted to distribute advertisements for risk-based games, bets carried out by bookmaker gambling operators, and/or means of personalization of bookmaker gambling operators during broadcasting in live or in the recording of sporting events. For broadcasters, a restriction has been established that the total duration of such advertising should be no more than 20% of the total permissible broadcast time of advertising during sports competitions.

A particularly important innovation was the appearance in the law "On information, information technologies and information protection" Article 10.5. Responsibilities of the owner of an audiovisual service. The status of audiovisual services (AVS) has been established - OTT services, including online cinemas that monetize their services through paid subscription or advertising.

If ABC’s traffic during the day is more than 100 thousand Russian users, it is included in special register, the creation and maintenance of which is entrusted to Roskomnadzor. The owner of ABC should be Russian legal entity or a citizen of Russia who does not have citizenship of another state. The law sets a limit of 20% of the share of foreign capital in the ownership of the service. The owner of ABC is obliged to install one of the programs proposed by the regulator to count the number of users of his resource, and is also obliged to prevent its use for the purpose of violating the law or distributing content prohibited in the country. Administrative liability for violation of the introduced norms is also defined. Online publications, search engines and video hosting sites with user-generated content are not recognized by ABC.

In parallel, amendments to Article 15.6 of the same law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” clarified the procedure and terms for blocking by Roskomnadzor and telecom operators of sites on which information containing objects of copyright and (or) related rights was repeatedly and unlawfully posted, and access to which was restricted by court decision.

New Article 15.6-1. The procedure for restricting access to copies of blocked sites separately regulates the procedures for identifying and combating so-called “mirrors” of pirated resources by Roskomnadzor, hosting providers, telecom operators and search engines. All this together is of significant importance for the activities of Russian television broadcasters, who are the copyright holders of audiovisual content, as well as having their own legal resources in the ABC market.

1.3 The main events of the television year

Among the notable events of 2017 are the appearance on air at the end of December entertainment TV channel"Super", owned by Gazprom Media. The channel is positioned as a federal terrestrial television channel; before its launch, funds were collected (mainly from other channels of the holding) air frequencies in eight cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The network was based on repeats of series and programs from other channels of the Gazprom-Media Entertainment Television group.

Two more events in the television year 2017 are related to difficulties in the activities of fairly high-profile recent projects. Thus, in December 2017, the Tsargrad TV channel stopped television broadcasting, which survived only in the format of an Internet resource with video content. Let us recall that “the first Russian conservative information and analytical television channel,” as the broadcaster positioned itself, was created in 2014 by businessman and politician K. Malofeev. Assessments of his activities, as well as political and ideological positions, were different, but it is clear that he is an independent, not associated with large holdings, niche non-entertainment project in the system television broadcasting I haven't been able to get a foothold yet.

In August 2017, broadcasting of the information Life TV channel, which started in 2013 as LifeNews (renamed in 2016). The TV channel was created within the framework of A. Gabrelyanov’s News Media holding and looked like a bright, professionally ambitious independent project. The management of the holding and the TV channel did not give a full explanation for the rather abrupt closure of the project. Throughout its existence, the sources of its financing have not been fully clarified.

Life's place on the air and partly in the television system was quickly taken by new TV channel IZ.RU, created on the basis of the multimedia information center (MIC) Izvestia, which combines the editorial resources of REN TV, Channel Five and the daily newspaper Izvestia. All these organizations belong to the National Media Group (NMG), which, by creating an MIC, solves the problem of optimizing activities and releasing convergent products.

Back in 2016, the National Advertising Alliance (NRA) was created, the founders of which were Channel One, VGTRK, National Media Group and Gazprom Media. "STS Media" did not participate in the creation of the NRA, but gave it the sale of its advertising opportunities.

In 2017, the National Media Group and STS Media created three joint companies (the ratio of shares in each is 51 to 49% in favor of NMG), through which sponsorship opportunities and online advertising on the TV channels of both holdings are jointly sold and content purchases are combined.

At the end of the year, the Vitrina TV company was created, 25% of which was distributed between the National Media Group, STS Media, Channel One and VGTRK. The main project within the framework of Vitrina TV was the creation and launch of an online platform common to all television channels of the founding holdings, a basic player for broadcasting their content on the Internet. You can pay attention to the fact that Gazprom-Media was not included in the project, but one should not exclude its appearance among the co-founders in the event of a successful start of the project.

The indicators of successful niche companies continue to grow terrestrial TV channels, the total share of thematic television (cable and satellite TV channels), which at the end of the year exceeded 15%, and the indicators of three channels - "House of Cinema", "Mult" and "Russian Roman" - turned out to be more than 1% each, which is higher than the results of, for example, such famous brands, like "Che" or "Channel Yu". Against this background, one cannot help but note the continuing increase in the number of players in this segment - at the end of the year, experts counted more than 50 new non-broadcast projects.

The fragmentation of television continues due to the development of video viewing on the Internet. In the context of the development of interaction between television and the Internet, it is necessary to note the final consolidation of OTT video services, in Russia more often called online cinemas, as a full-fledged sector of the domestic television system.

Against the backdrop of positive trends observed in other segments of the television system, the situation in regional television continues to remain problematic. The total share of regional TV channels fell again in 2017, to 3.2%, and there is still no understanding of how the transition to digital will affect local broadcasters. As part of the search for solutions to support regional television channels, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law “On Advertising”. They allow channels that “in accordance with the broadcasting license are distributed in the territories of less than half of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation” to increase the advertising time using a “creeping line”, but not more than 15% above the permissible per hour in information and entertainment programs and no more than 5% in other genre groups of programs.

It should be noted that since the summer of 2017, pay TV operators in 72 constituent entities of the Russian Federation have launched the so-called “21st button”, on which the winners of a special competition of the Federal Competition Commission broadcast for free. However, assigning the status " mandatory channel" helped solve, albeit partially, the problems of only seven dozen TV channels, despite the fact that the situation of many, including a significant number of “old-timers” working since the 1990s, remains unclear. The search for solutions leads, in particular, to the creation of niche professional associations aimed at solving certain specific issues. Thus, in the summer of 2017, a new Association of Urban Television and Radio Broadcasters (AGT) was created in Ufa, co-founded by the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters (NAT) and the All Ufa TV channel. The most important area of its work last year. was the preparation of legislative initiatives to create a “22nd button” in operator packages for municipal broadcasters.

Russian television audience

On the first day of the new year in Ukraine, Bill No. 3504 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” comes into force (regarding clarification of the conditions for distributing programs of television and radio organizations as part of the universal software service)" adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in October and signed by the President in early November. One of the most important from the point of view of the end consumer will be that Ukrainian media groups receive the right to demand from operators pay television payment for broadcasting channels on their networks.

On at the moment media groups announced minimum cost its content for pay TV networks, when concluding contracts in December this year. We especially note that channels are sold only as part of packages, so save money by excluding not the most interesting channels from a media group package will not work.

Channel package 1+1 media (6 channels: “1+1”, “2+2”, “TET”, “PlusPlus”, “Unian TV” and “Curler”) - 0.75 UAH per 1 subscriber per month.
StarLightMedia channel package (6 channels: “STB”, “ICTV”, “ New channel", "QTV", "M1" and "M2") - 0.75 UAH per 1 subscriber per month.
Package of channels “Media Group Ukraine” (3 channels: “Ukraine”, “NLO TV” and “Indigo TV”) - 0.45 UAH per 1 subscriber per month.
Inter Media Group channel package (9 channels: “Inter”, “NTN”, “Mega”, “Enter-film”, “Pixel”, “K1”, “K2”, “Zoom” and “EuroNews”) - 3 UAH for 1 subscriber per month.
“Channel 5” – 0.1 UAH per subscriber per month.

Interestingly, these prices are indicated with the caveat that media groups will agree on the final cost of the package with each specific operator. At the same time, the final cost of the proposal will be influenced primarily by the size of the operator’s subscriber base.

According to representatives of media groups, the given price is valid when concluding a contract until December 21, 2016, and from January 1, 2017, prices may increase several times. An example is the StarLightMedia offer, which on New Year's Eve will increase exactly twice - from 0.75 UAH to 1.5 UAH per subscriber.

It is easy to calculate that for access to the above Ukrainian channels, providers will have to pay media groups 5 UAH per subscriber per month. The amount is not excessive, but in terms of the number of subscribers (in 2015 there were more than 6 million subscribers in Ukraine cable television), may be quite high - more than 30 million UAH per month. Moreover, according to established tradition, this amount will most likely be borne by the end consumer. Alternatively, the TV service can simply be turned off, which is important for broadband providers who offer their subscribers TV viewing services along with Internet access.

For example, the provider Triolan decided to survey its subscribers in telephone mode to find out whether to leave channels with an additional charge or turn them off without increasing the subscription fee. In Lanet he considers this situation an “ultimatum” of oligarchic media groups and is going to turn off such paid channels. And the largest cable provider Volya has not yet decided what to do in this situation.

In any case, it is unlikely that the adoption of bill No. 3504 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” will pass without a trace for the Ukrainian market of television, cable television and Internet providers. Stay with us, we will keep you updated on the situation.