Leading Russian satellite television provider NTV+ announced their launch of 3D content production at the “Digital TV and Mass Communication in Russia” conference held in Moscow on March 30-31. The announcement was reported on ComNews.ru, a Russian site covering telecom and IT markets.
The new 3D technology will be used for broadcasting sports and other events on the DTH platform. Investment in the project was tagged at $500,000.
NTV+ has already invested more than $3 million in a joint project with Panasonic Corporation to launch NTV+ 3D by Panasonic, Russia’s first 3D TV channel.
Expert commentary
Special to EWDN from Vladislav Shirobokov, broadcast media expert
NTV+ was founded in 1996 and became one of the first DTH platforms in Russia. It broadcasts via the Eutelsat W4/W7 and Bonum-1 satellites.
When Gazprom Media acquired control of the company from Vladimir Gusinsky, the company began a period of rapid development in new technologies. The channel’s accelerated adoption of such innovations as DolbyDigital 5.1, HDTV, pay-per-view, MPEG4 and the development of popular sports and entertainment content, however, has not led to a rapid increase in the number of active subscribers, totaling just 630,000 at the beginning of 2011, according to J’son & Partners Consulting
In a move most likely to boost subscription rates, Gazprom Media purchased DTH operator Tricolor-TV in 2010, the latter having more than 5 million subscribers. The move gave Gazprom Media a more than 91% of the DTH market in Russia. The remaining 9% is shared between Orion Express, with about 300 thousand subscribers, Rainbow TV with 150,000 subscribers and Platform HD with 50,000.
J’son & Partners has estimated that in 2010, the subscriber base for satellite television in Russia increased by 24%, reaching some 6.2 million users. The level of penetration for the service stands at 12% of the total number of residences. The market volume as compared with the previous year increased by 3% and amounted to 8 billion rubles.
• Vladislav Shirobokov, 28, is a telecom and broadcasting industry professional with 8 years of experience in CIS countries. Currently he works as a sales manager covering Eastern Europe and Russia at GlobeCast, the leading global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. Over the past two years, he has supported the launch of satellite and cable distribution for more than twenty TV channels in these regions. Mr Shirobokov is a graduate of the faculty of International Relations at St Petersburg State University.
