Russian state-owned broadcaster VGTRK has been instructed by President Vladimir Putin to hand over the frequency utilised by its Russia 2 channel to Gazprom Media Holding by August 1, ahead of the launch a new state-backed sports broadcaster one month later.
Gazprom Media Holding is a division of state-owned energy company Gazprom. The deal transferring the Russia 2 frequency to Gazprom Media has not yet been signed but is understood to be worth R9.3bn (€150m/$168m). It will include infrastructure that VGTRK utilises to broadcast sporting events.
Russian business daily Vedemosti said the new platform, details of which were first revealed in April, has been handed the working title Sport 360.
Gazprom Media chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko said Sport 360, which aims to launch on September 1, will be funded by advertising and should break even in three years. He added that Gazprom Media could become the single purchaser of rights to major international sporting events across all Russian platforms, negating inflation in rights fees.
Earlier this month, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that, aside from the main channel, Sport 360 could provide “four or five” other channels in order to “cover all sports.”