Russians Not Ready To Sponsor First Public Service TV Channel – Poll

File Photo of Russian Television Studio

(RIA Novosti – May 16, 2013) Russian Public TV (OTR) programme director Stanislav Arkhipov has said that the television channel, which is set to launch on 19 May, will concentrate on news but will try to avoid emphasis on “know-it-all Moscow”, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported on 16 May.

According to the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 50 per cent of those polled would like to see Russian feature films on OTR, 45 per cent federal news, 43 per cent regional news, 32 per cent international news, 28 per cent programmes for children and young people, 20 per cent popular science documentaries and films about life in the regions, 18 per cent cartoons and documentaries, 17 per cent films about the arts, 13 per cent foreign films and current affairs programmes, 9 per cent mind games and 7 per cent talk shows. Respondents could not give more than five options in this question.

“Our content is in demand. Our news at the moment are focused on the regions. We will have original, round the clock news. They will be shown every hour,” Arkhipov said.

He said the channel would try to “show as little of know-it-all Moscow as possible” because “there are no less educated people in the regions”. The channel will also provide a platform for young people to show their creative abilities.

Arkhipov said there would be no sport on OTR, at least in the first four or five years, or children programmes. In his words, the channel’s main task is to show the general picture of the country.

Arkhipov said that if the channel were to show opposition activist Aleksey Navalnyy or mass street protests, they would be given as much time as, for example, a report about the launch of a major power station.

The programmes director stressed that the channel was not receiving any instructions “from the top”, and if there were not a lot of information about the opposition, this would be not a question of censorship but the channel’s decision.

Senior FOM researcher Inna Ivanova, who presented the results of the survey, said that although the Russians did not fully understand what OTR was but they knew what they did not like in modern television – cruelty, negativism, lack of morals.

According to the FOM survey, 59 per cent of Russians are not willing to make voluntary contributions to the OTR. Of those who agree to pay (26 per cent), 33 per cent would be prepared to pay R50 (1.5 dollars), 28 per cent R100, 20 per cent less than R50, and 9 per cent were ready to spend R200.

The poll was carried out among 1,500 respondents in 100 towns and villages in 43 Russian regions on 20-21 April 2013.

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