Ogoniok, a Russian weekly owned by Kommersant, reported plans to create an international Russian-language TV channel. The project will be managed by Valery Komissarov, a former member of the Russian Duma, who claims to have a background in entertainment television and who announced to the press last month that investors had been found for the project.
Yandex, the leading search engine on the Russian-language Internet, announced yesterday the launch of Yandex.Factory, an investment program designed to help startups finance their product, prototype, or project development at the seed, or early, stage.
More than 120 Russian broadcasters and content distributors represented Russia at MIPTV, a key industry event for the European content market that took place in Cannes, France, from March 31 to April 4. This year, the show has hosted more than 11,500 participants from 107 countries.
Russia ranks 77th of the 138 countries listed in the latest Networked Readiness Index compiled by the World Economic Forum, up three positions from 80th in the index’s 2009 edition. The index is a component of the Global Information Technology Report published annually by the Forum.
The Russian Duma has adopted a new law on electronic signatures, which will replace the previous one of January 2002. The new law will come into force after signing by the Russian President and official publication.
Federal Security Service (FSB) senior official Alexander Andreyechkin complained last Friday during a government meeting that “the uncontrollable use of Gmail, Hotmail, and Skype [in particular] could lead to a major threat to Russia’s security.” FSB is “more and more concerned about these services using foreign-made cryptographic means” that Russia’s security services cannot access, he added.
First Satellite Company, Russia’s leading distributor and retailer of digital TV equipment, announced last week that it has been acquired by Dutch fund Enterprise Emerging Markets Fund B.V.
MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, intends to purchase Republic of Tatarstan TV and Radio Company TVT (TRC TVT) for $180 million, Kommersant reports. TRC TVT, the largest cable TV operator in Tatarstan, is currently 100% owned by TAIF group. It provides services in 15 municipalities and covers over 650,000 households.
Rostelecom, Russia’s national telecommunications operator, intends to invest $15.3 million in the development of telecommunications networks in Tomsk region in 2011, up 34.4% from 2010, news agency RIA Novosti reports.
Swedish investment company Vostok Nafta Investment called Avito.ru, its online-classified-ads affiliate company in Russia, the “real romance” of its portfolio in 2011. Vostok Nafta, which owns 25.8% of Avito, claims in its annual report that the site established itself as “the number one online classifieds operator in Russia” following the “explosion” of its traffic since …
Swedish investor has “real romance” with Russian classifieds site Read More
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.
MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, has acquired full ownership of Inteleca, an alternative operator providing broadband Internet and cable TV services in Barnaul and Biysk in the Altai region. The sale of the company came to $19.2 million, according to MTS.
