OTR - Public Television of Russia

History

2013

Ministry of Finance: Orders for social advertising need to be sent to OTR

At the beginning of 2013, the government, represented by the Ministry of Finance, proposed sending orders for social advertising, which are placed by various ministries and departments, specifically for OTR. The Ministry of Finance even sent a request to the Ministry of Labor, the Federal Tax Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund and other departments about the costs planned for 2013 for the production and distribution of social advertising in order to determine how much funds OTR can receive by fulfilling orders from interested federal bodies.

Channel launch and negligible viewer contributions

OTR launched in May 2013 and was conceived as the first TV channel in Russia to be sponsored by viewers. Almost from the very beginning, OTR faced financial difficulties.

Already in the summer of 2013, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media Alexei Volin advised OTR to optimize costs.

The contributions received from viewers turned out to be insignificant - for 10 months of work, the channel managed to collect only 2.2 million rubles. At the same time, the most notable donors were not spectators, but the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov (he transferred 200 thousand rubles to the OTR account) and the head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications Mikhail Seslavinsky (contributed 100 thousand rubles).

In 2013, the deputy director of the channel, Igor Naigovzin, asked the State Duma deputies to amend the budget, which would increase funding for the channel by 300 million rubles. In his opinion, 350 million rubles, which are provided for by the channel for the purchase of content, is not enough. However, parliamentarians refused additional funding for OTR.

2014

State subsidies 1.5 billion rubles

The OTR budget is still formed from state subsidies. So, for 2014, OTR received 1.5 billion rubles, and also counts on subsidies distributed by Rospechat. But at the stage of discussing the budget, the general director of the TV channel Anatoly Lysenko said that the channel has little 1.5 billion rubles for the production of content. OTR Channel is constantly trying to find alternative sources of funding, including attracting private donations. Minister of Communications and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov donated 200 thousand rubles, and the head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications Mikhail Seslavinsky - 100 thousand rubles.

The lack of funding forces OTR to think about placing social advertising on the air, writes "Cable Worker."

Cutting staff by half

At the end of January 2014, the general director of the TV channel Anatoly Lysenko said that staff reductions would begin only as a last resort.

In March 2014, it became known that half of the employees of the "Public Television of Russia" (OTR) left the channel by agreement of the parties. Izvestia writes about this with reference to several sources on the TV channel. It is noted that, for the most part, the director's staff and news editorial offices fell under the reductions.

The general director of the TV channel Anatoly Lysenko comments on the cuts, referring to the ongoing restructuring.

'We're not sacking anyone, the cuts are being made as part of a restructuring. Someone is running out of terms of contracts, someone leaves of their own free will, "he said

Employees who left the TV channel say that the layoffs did not happen entirely of their own free will. There was no general meeting, as there was no detailed explanation of the situation by the leadership. Before signing the agreement between the parties, the department editors spoke with the employees about the difficulties of OTR and the need for layoffs. It is noted that employees who wrote letters of resignation by agreement of the parties will receive two salaries.

OTR employees note that the channel's staff has already been reduced by more than half.

Stop third-party content purchases

In April 2014, it became known that Public Television of Russia (OTR) refuses to purchase third-party content. This was reported to Izvestia by the general director of OTR Anatoly Lysenko. The channel will replace them with their own broadcasts. In the meantime, OTR continues to work with manufacturers who provide significant discounts on their products.

In 2013, the channel purchased almost half of its content. Due to financial difficulties, he had to first almost halve the journalistic staff, and now refuse to buy programs.

didn't look at their ratings. They left only those that we produce ourselves, and those whose creators agree to drop the price, - explains Lysenko.

Lysenko did not specify which television programs OTR refused. The channel buys mainly ready-made television programs, documentaries and films - 350 million rubles were allocated for content in 2013. As Izvestia found out, OTR has no anchor suppliers: the channel buys programs and films from various companies. The largest of them is the Leader TV studio (owned by Tatyana Kovaleva and Alla Fomina). This production company is filming projects for Channel One, Culture, Russia, NTV, TV Center, Capital and Muz-TV. In 2012, Leader TV raised 215.4 million rubles from the sale. OTR is also involved in shooting programs by order:

• "Planet Media,"
• "Lennauchfilm,"
• film and video studio "Youth,"
• UMP TV,
• Neotel,
• "Melon" et al.

- Cost optimization is still poorly tangible, says Lysenko. Commercial advertising could improve the financial condition of OTR, but the channel's charter prohibits its demonstration. Therefore, according to Lysenko, the channel seriously thought about sponsorship advertising, which, according to him, does not contradict^[1]

- We will attract sponsors when we are sure that this does not legally contradict the law. So far, we do not have specific agreements with sponsors, but we are negotiating with them.

Public Television was eyeing sponsorship projects a year ago. However, specific negotiations were not reported at the time.

According to Lysenko, Russians are not ready to pay a ruble for consumed television content. The experience of the Dozhd TV channel, which, as a result of a weekly marathon, raised 40 million rubles in the form of donations, Lysenko considers unproven, since, unlike OTR Dozhd, it has the opportunity to broadcast commercial advertising.

Start collecting donations

"Public Television of Russia" reported in July 2014 on the holding of the next round of collection of donations to its address. The channel expects to receive support from its viewers, whom, according to the OTR leadership, during the year of its existence it pleased with the quality of the released content and the lack of advertising.

The official statement of the TV channel announcing the start of collecting donations notes that "OTR is an independent platform for discussing the most pressing problems that concern our country. We hope that during the year of broadcasting we managed to justify the trust of the viewer. OTR transmissions are not interrupted by advertising. We are not a commercial TV channel. And we need your support. "

Notes