Russian state broadcaster VGTRK has announced that its free-to-air channel Russia 2 will be dedicated solely to the 2014 winter Olympic Games during the duration of next year’s event in Sochi.
The chief editor of VGTRK’s sports department, Dmitry Guberniev, made the announcement while discussing the broadcaster’s coverage plans for Russia’s staging of its first winter Olympics.
“It is unlikely that Russians during the Olympics will be interested in something else, so Russia 2 will only broadcast Olympic [content],” Guberniev said, according to the Sports.ru website.
ANO Sports Broadcasting, a consortium of Russian television companies including VGTRK and Channel One, and pay-television broadcaster NTV Plus, acquired the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games in a deal with the Sportfive agency signed in September 2012.