Russian state broadcaster VGTRK is preparing to launch a new sports channel dedicated to ‘socially important’ sports.
Dmitry Mednikov, editor-in-chief of VGTRK’s Russia 2 free-to-air channel, told the Sport Express newspaper that the new channel would be dedicated to “socially important and national kinds of sports.”
The RIA Novosti news agency reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin, speaking after a meeting with the country’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko, endorsed the new channel, saying: “Federal channels haven’t developed a cohesive system [of sports coverage] and educational programmes and projects are obviously scarce.
“Over 80 per cent of all journalistic materials are reports from competitions. Issues of mass sport development are covered only if someone asks for that directly.”