Russian media group Gazprom Media Holding has unveiled plans to launch a new sports television channel.
The channel is to be launched in the autumn of 2015, having been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gazprom Media will operate the channel, which will commence both as an analogue service and the country’s first DTT multiplex.
In a statement, Gazprom Media said that the channel would aim to encourage a sporting and healthy lifestyle amongst Russian youth and family audiences.
Gazprom Media is Russia’s largest media company and its television platforms include NTV, TNT, TV3, 2×2 Pyatnitsa and NTV-Plus. The new channel will be created by utilising the infrastructure of pay-television broadcaster NTV-Plus’s digital-terrestrial television channel Sport Plus. It will be distributed through the network of Russia 2, the free-to-air channel operated by state-owned broadcaster VGTRK.
Gazprom Media expects content to include national and international sporting events, programming on traditional and extreme sports, youth sports and health and fitness-related content.
Gazprom Media chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko said: “One result of the success of the (2014) Olympic Games in Sochi was the growth of interest in sport and a healthy lifestyle. Our new project is aimed primarily at young and family audiences and seeks to meet the demand for high-quality sports.
“We hope that the new channel will be a showcase for the projects of the NTV-Plus family of sports channels, and the basis for the development of a ‘360 degree’ sports media business using a variety of media platforms and resources. We intend to use all the synergies within the holding company, including the optimisation of production costs, and purchase content through the formation of a unified system of procurement and use of television rights.”
Chernyshenko served as president and chief executive of the Sochi 2014 winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. He was appointed to his role at Gazprom Media in January.