Tricolor
TV (Russian: Триколор ТВ) the biggest Russian satellite television
operator. It broadcasts a pack of TV channels in the European part of
Russia and most of Siberian, Ural and Far East regions. Broadcasting in
the European part has been held since December 2005 from esv Eutelsat W4
(36o в.д.). Broadcasting in the Eastern regions began in December 2007.
The
principal difference between Tricolor TV and other operators is the
pack of free channels broadcasts by Tricolor TV. There are 12 federal
channels including "Pervy", "Rossiya", "NTV", "STS", "Karusel" and
others in the free "Basic" pack. Except these, there are 19 more TV
channels for the whole family. The budget pack of satellite channels
turned to be very popular among Russian viewers. The number of Tricolor
TV's subscribers is the largest in Russia. In March 2012 the audience of
Tricolor TV reached a number of 10 000 000 households with around 30
000 000 viewers.
According to British Company "IHS Screen Digest"
market research, "Tricolor TV" is the most popular pay-TV operator in
Eastern Europe, the European leader in growth of the subscriber base
over the past four years, and one of the world’s three leaders by this
indicator along with Indian operators Dish TV and Sun Direct.
According
to the research of company "J'son and Parntners", "Tricolor TV" is the
leader on Russian pay-TV market (39% of subscribers), and it helds 86%
of satellite TV segment.
Company history
Project
idea is based on the fact that there is a significant disparity in
terms of access to TV channels. In large cities with population over
500,000 at least 15 channels broadcast from the TV transmitter can be
received almost everywhere. However, if you drive 20 km away from the
transmitter, the picture is getting worse, within 30 km there are serous
problems with reception and within 50 km range you can just forget
about regular terrestrial TV. These are the numbers that frightened me.
Over 50 million people in Russia have an opportunity to receive 5 or
less TV channels, generally, with weak signal. Over 20 million people
watch 1 channel, the second one's reception quality is too low. ”
—Dmitry Volobuev, first executive director of NSC.[1]
- October, 2005 — Tricolor TV company was established;
- On the night of 1 October 2005— Tricolor TV test broadcast via Eutelsat W4 began.[2]
- November, 12th, 2005 — Tricolor TV started broadcasting channels Russia, Ren TV, Сulture, DTV, TV3.
-
May, 30th, 2006 — For half a year 150.000 persons connected to Tricolor
TV, the number of televiewers exceeded 450.000 pers.[3]
-
May, 11th, 2007 - Introduction of the paid package channels (5 blocks:
"Children", "Cinema", "Sports", "Cognitive", "Comedy"; 2 cannels for
each block).[4]
- March, 1st, 2008 — Telecasting has begun «Tricolor TV» to Siberia with companion "Bonum-1".
- July, 7th, 2009 — 5.000.000 households.[5]
- September, 15th, 2009 — The contract between holding "Gazprom Media" and "Tricolor TV" about purchase "Tricolor TV".[6][7]
- December, 2009- — 6.000.000 households
- 1 February 2010 — Telecasting from companion W7
- 1 February 2010 - Launch of Tricolor Internet service
Company acquisition by Gazprom Media
As
it became known on 15 September 2009, Gazprom Media reached an
agreement on buying NSC. Both the companies reportedly signed a
strategic partnership agreement, according to which subscription bases
will be merged, and part of NTV Plus services and channels will be
available to Tricolor TV subscribers.[9] This transaction attracted the
attention of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, due to the fact that
after closing the transaction Gazprom Media would capture the control
over 97% of satellite TV viewers.[7]
However, in August 2010,
Tricolor TV press secretary Alexander Nikiforov stated in his interview
to the ComNews daily that Holding hadn’t acquired the controlling stake
of the company. Director-General of NSC Vyacheslav Mordachev assured
that term of validity of the memorandum of intentions hadn't yet
expired. Satellite TV market players link the interruption in the
transaction with problems in reliable calculation of Tricolor TV
subscription base — top manager of one of the dealer networks considers
that the real number of subscribers is 20-25% smaller, and changes,
depending on season.[10] There haven't been released any official
comments in regard to the transaction.
On 11 August 2010, the
Vedomosti newspaper informed that the transaction was close to its end.
However, it is not clear yet, how the reorganization will be made: it is
reported that as acquirer will act a Tricolor TV’s competitor NTV Plus,
not the Gazprom Media, as well as Tricolor TV will be completely
integrated into NTV Plus.