Cyprus Mail - 3 June 2019 - article by Staff Reporter
A new television channel featuring Russian content will be available on the Velister digital platform in the coming October, according to reports.
It will retransmit content from Russia’s popular TNT (Tvoyo Novoye Televideniye, or Television for a New Millennium) channel.
The free-to-air channel will operate under the brand ‘TNT Cyprus’. The company behind the venture, Cyprus Entertainment TV Ltd, has applied for and secured a licence from the broadcasting authority.
The company is based in Cyprus and has local shareholders.
The channel has already begun trial runs. A spokesman for the company said their aim was to broadcast 14 hours of Russian content a day with Greek subtitles, in order to draw in Cypriot viewers as well.
There are an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Russian nationals residing permanently in Cyprus.
The channel will also be hosting local advertisements.
According to Wikipedia, TNT was founded in 1997 and is considered one of the five most popular TV channels in Russia. At the beginning of 2012, it reached more than 104 million people.
Although its target audience is viewers 14 to 44 years old, its core demographic is ages 18 to 30.
The channel focuses on entertainment, particularly comedy series. Since 2001 it has been a member of the Gazprom-Media, the flagship TV channel of Gazprom-Media Entertainment TV.
TNT’s main source of income is advertisements. It delivers its signal via satellites in four orbits.
TNT reserves the rights to all original shows, and owns two of Russia’s largest production companies: Comedy Club Production and Good Story Media.
Its audience share in Russia (as reported for the third quarter of 2013) was 7.9 per cent overall, 16.6 per cent in the 18-30 age bracket.
TNT transmits in both 576 interlaced (standard definition) and 1080 interlaced (high definition).
