Page 47 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2011

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 2 2011 | 47
teams experience problems
obtaining access to these places.
The Baikonur space launch
facility and the aviation plant in
Irkutsk where modern fighter
aircraft are produced are two such
places. I think in the first couple of
years of getting the channel running
successfully, we realised one
important thing – that most of the
things we set out to do are possible.
What is your business model?
The business model of the TV
channel is to generate revenue from
cable and satellite TV operators. We
offer exclusive and high‑quality
content that is popular with audiences
and makes the channel attractive
for cable networks around the
world. RTG TV is definitely a
commercial venture but there is
also an altruistic element as well.
We organise non‑commercial
campaigns, for example we made
our films about Russia's largest
cities available to all educational
establishments in the Siberian city
of Khanty‑Mansiysk. We believe it's
important to learn about your home
country not only from books but to
see your country from our TV
presenters' point of view.
How do you source programmes?
From the start all our programmes
have been produced in‑house
exclusively for RTG TV by our own
production company. Today we have
three production companies working
on content production in Moscow,
St Petersburg and Krasnodar.
What is your inspiration?
It's Russia, its nature and its people
that inspire us. Every time when we
travel to a particular region we
originally set out to shoot a certain
number of films but our teams
often return and say: 'There's so
much we didn't have time to shoot!'
…near lake Baikal…in Siberia…in
the Ural mountains.
But I suppose we are lucky
because we live in the largest
country in the world and we won't
run out of subject matters for
filming. That's great – we have the
most interesting, wonderful and
diverse topics right in front of us.
Which markets are key for you?
We broadcast on Russian and
international satellites (Hotbird 8
(13º), Eutelsat W4, Yamal 201,
Intelsat 904) and are carried by over
500 cable networks. Both domestic
and international markets are
important to us.
What's the feedback from viewers?
We receive feedback through our
website, emails and telephone calls
in all different languages, not only
Russian. What is it they like about
our channel? For Russians the
attraction is that they get re‑
acquainted with their own country,
and for many foreign viewers RTG
gives them a first glimpse of the
many aspects of this country. And
once a viewer has discovered us,
he/she tends to stay.
What are the success stories so far?
We have had a fantastic first two
years. In our second year of
operation, we received a number of
awards – in October 2010 we won
Best Documentary Channel with
the national 'Golden Ray' award for
satellite, cable and internet TV. In
November last year, we were 'Best
TV channel to represent Russia' at
the Hot Bird TV Awards, and in the
same month we were one of the
finalists in the 'Specialist Genre TV'
category at the AIB International
Media Excellence Awards.
This industry recognition beyond
Russia has been a tremendous boost
for everyone in the RTG team and
we will build on that in the
coming year.
The start has been great and I
feel very confident for the future.
Fedor Strizhkov, thank you.
INTERVIEW | THE CHANNEL
We realised
one
important
thing –
most of
the things
we set out
to do are
possible
“
”
ww
w.rtgtv.com