The Newsroom

International News Presentation: Past and Present

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GR
German Rudnev
And, of course, the main difference is that VGTRK has a big regional network, similar to ITV and/or BBC. Regional GTRK produce their local news in opt-outs on Russia 1, Russia 2 (Vesti-Sport), Russia K (Culture News) and Russia 24 (if GTRK has a licence to broadcast K and 24 in the region; if it's granted to someone else, they produce their own news), some extra documentaries for those channels and so on.
It's difficult to run this large-scale network, and so it's the fact that VGTRK has only has it.


So, German, there are local inserts (whether it's ads or shows) on ALL those VGTRK TV channels , VGTRK has a network of regional/local stations like having network O&Os and private affiliates in the U.S., and all of VGTRK TV channels are broadcast over the air? (apart from cable, sat and IPTV)

OK, another issues. In the U.S., lying across 5 or 6 time zones, major TV networks and other TV channels are mostly broadcast from the eastern states (particularly New York and Washington D.C.), and has a 3-hour timeshift feed for western states. But Russia lies across more than 10 time zones and TV channels are mostly broadcast from Moscow in the west of the country. So, how do they deal with it?

Finally, which states in Russia has GTRK's news bulletin in local languages, and how long is it?

P.S. What is the usual line-up of Russian terrestrial TV channels? (something like 1. BBC One; 2. BBC Two; 3. ITV/STV/UTV; 4. Channel 4; 5. Channel 5 in the UK)
I see VGTRK recently adopted their new corporate font, and slowly implementing it. It looks like was designed by some British or Continental European foundry. Anyone got anything about it?


GTRKs are owned and operated by state from the Soviet times, when every region had one local TV station. In 90s, after the creation of VGTRK, all those stations became tailored to the company.

All terrestrial VGTRK channels (Russia 1, 2, K and 24) have slots for local programming. On Russia 1, these are after national Vesti bulletins (including Morning of Russia) on weekdays, which are for local news
bulletins, and two large daytime slots on Saturday and Sunday for local programmes.
Russia 2 has slots for local Vesti-Sport bulletins (after national ones), and during them, the Moscow bulletins run in 'network streams'. The regions also have large slots on weekends, in place of which regular programming is put 'networked' - and they may or may not use these slots. Russia K is similar.
Russia 24 has the local news section (one bulletin from one of the regions, every two hours at least), and the regions opt out in the evening to show local 'newshour' - news and/or documentaries and interviews. If region isn't using this slot, the viewers see the usual Russia 24 TotH.
Some of regional variations of Russia 1 can be picked free by satellites/IPTV streams.

Speaking about timeshift techology, it was developed in the years of USSR. The networks and channels have 5 (usually, but some use 3 or 4) 'doubles' or 'orbits' - time-shifted feeds (example here is Russia 1 (and K; Russia 2 and 24 have no doubles) and Channel One):

Double 5 / Orbit 1: +7, +8 MSK (GMT+3). Furthest East.
Double 4 / Orbit 2: +6, +7. Far East, Eastern Siberia.
Double / Orbit 3: +4, +5. Western and Central Siberia.
Double 2 / Orbit 4: +2, +3. Urals and Western Siberia.
Default stream : 0, +1. European Russia.

Note: The most of the channels don't use the exact time when programme airs in promos on non-default streams. The exceptions are nationwide live broadcasts, but with usage of Moscow time.


Commercial networks (Ren TV, NTV, TNT, STS and so on) use less feeds (usually '0', '+2', '+4' and '+7').

National language news bulletins and programmes are mostly broadcast in 'republical' states, where there are two or more national languages - Russian and national ones. They mostly share two different local slots, and so they're the same length as usual bulletins.

About terrestrial television channels: the only channels with clear position are Channel One and Russia 1 (first and second). And then, everything's mixed as in the USA, as commercial channels are networked by the same principle.

And finally, on the corporate VGTRK font. It was designed in-house, as well as the whole corporate style of the company and Russia 1 idents. The review of the style is http://revision.ru/work/38321/.
Last edited by German Rudnev on 21 May 2011 3:59pm
WW
WW Update
Here are all of TelevizjaTrizondal's compilations of current (2009-) news intros, some of which have been posted here before:

Lithuania, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Latvia, and the Netherlands:



ARD in Germany -- the national news followed by the news from the various regional ARD broadacsters:



Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden:



The Baltic countries:



Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Canada, Croatia, Greece, Morocco, and North Korea:



Georgia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia, and Bulgaria:



Serbia, South Korea, Hungary, USA, Switzerland:



Austria, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Armenia, China:



Romania, Italy, Iceland, Belgium, Bulgaria, San Marino:



Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, the Czech Republic:

WW
WW Update
We now have YouTube clips of RTBF's new look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js64yGSue-k

(via Kevizz and MediaSpy)
WH
whoiam989
We now have YouTube clips of RTBF's new look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js64yGSue-k

(via Kevizz and MediaSpy)


Great! Now, I'm looking for some France 2 20 Heures intro from 2011 on YouTube.
WW
WW Update
We now have YouTube clips of RTBF's new look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js64yGSue-k

(via Kevizz and MediaSpy)


Great! Now, I'm looking for some France 2 20 Heures intro from 2011 on YouTube.


In the meantime, here is a compilation of various French news intros (New Year's Day editions) from the 1970s up to the late '00s:

VI
Viakenny
here in Brazil, SBT has relaunched, once again with new anchors (longtime radio broadcaster Joseval Peixoto and Rachel Sheherazade, previously with the SBT affiliate in João Pessoa, in the northeastern state of Paraíba), a new format and a new set, its flagship newscast, "SBT Brasil". I'm not a fan of the new set. actually, I'm not a fan of the new format either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWT17C-A-xM
GR
German Rudnev
Back to Russia... to Russia 1's Morning of Russia. Here's a compilation of recent rather creative 'coming up' teasers used before hourly and half-hourly Vesti:


Topics in order:
- Usual housework, unusual look;
- Getting fit: exercise complexes at home;
- Who - or what - was killing rabbits in Altay region?
- Keeping warm as the frost comes;
- Flights to the Moon: new tourist routes;
- 'Slavic dress code' proposal: talks about sense of style and amount of decency;
- How to keep away from coming flu;
- New invention - 'breathing' food and food crisis;
- Full identification: new safety technologies;
- Internet versus television: present and future;
- Hard way to countrywide use of energy-saving lamps;
- From zero to soldier;
- New sign of the zodiac discovered: changes in horoscopes;
- Floods and snow all over Europe: weather forecast after the news;
- Superstitions: are they useful? do they really impact on our lives?
- Speaking in all languages - how to learn;
- What will happen if aliens really will invade Earth - and are they real?
- Following the Yeti: people say it was seen recently in Krasnodar region;
- 'Something spring-y will happen right now': can we see our future?
- Digital switchover: how to solve the problems;
- How to protect yourself from the flu on the street - a few simple rules.

And two recent promos with the whole presenter team:

Was used in autumn 2010.

2011 New Year promo ('Follow the Rabbit!').
There were shorter versions too (usually used as stings).

And last-but-not-least: from tomorrow, Channel One will be the first national Russian terrestrial channel to broadcast widescreen. As it's hard for the entire nation to adapt to new formats, it will be broadcast in pure widescreen on Digital Cable and Satellite systems, and 16:9 will be letterboxed into 4:3 in analogue terrestrial and cable systems until August, when it'll be full widescreen anywhere.
Last edited by German Rudnev on 31 May 2011 1:17pm - 2 times in total
WW
WW Update
German, thank you so much for the clips. There's something I don't quite understand, however: One of the morning show promos shows the sun rising over Vladivostok. But when it's 5 AM in the Russian Far East, it's still evening in Moscow. Does Russia 1 produce a special edition of the morning show for the Far Eastern and Siberian feeds ("orbits") in the evening? If not, how does this work?
Last edited by WW Update on 31 May 2011 4:44pm
GR
German Rudnev
German, thank you so much for the clips. There's something I don't quite understand, however: One of the morning show promos shows the sun rising over Vladivostok. But when it's 5 AM in the Russian Far East, it's still evening in Moscow. Does Russia 1 produce a special edition of the morning show for the Far Eastern and Siberian feeds ("orbits") in the evinning? If not, how does this work?


As far as I know, yes - all morning news and breakfast programme crews start working at late nights. That's common for all nationwide breakfast programmes: Morning of Russia, Good Morning (Channel One), Attitude (Íàñòðîåíèå) - TV Center and NTV in the Morning (ÍÒÂ óòðîì) - NTV.

For MSK+7 time zone, they start at 11 PM,
they join with MSK+4 at 1 AM,
join MSK+2 at 3 AM (goodbye to MSK+7),
and then the MSK time zone joins at 5 AM (goodbye to MSK +4).

The programmes usually last 4 hours (from 5.00 till 9.00) - Attitude starts at 6.00, so, in total, each channel produces ~16 hours of breakfast programming.
WW
WW Update
German, thank you so much for the clips. There's something I don't quite understand, however: One of the morning show promos shows the sun rising over Vladivostok. But when it's 5 AM in the Russian Far East, it's still evening in Moscow. Does Russia 1 produce a special edition of the morning show for the Far Eastern and Siberian feeds ("orbits") in the evinning? If not, how does this work?


As far as I know, yes - all morning news and breakfast programme crews start working at late nights. That's common for all nationwide breakfast programmes: Morning of Russia, Good Morning (Channel One), Attitude (Íàñòðîåíèå) - TV Center and NTV in the Morning (ÍÒÂ óòðîì) - NTV.

For MSK+7 time zone, they start at 11 PM,
they join with MSK+4 at 1 AM,
join MSK+2 at 3 AM (goodbye to MSK+7),
and then the MSK time zone joins at 5 AM (goodbye to MSK +4).

The programmes usually last 4 hours (from 5.00 till 9.00) - Attitude starts at 6.00, so, in total, each channel produces ~16 hours of breakfast programming.


Wow, that's a lot of programming! Thanks for the explanation.

I assume they have several teams of anchors, right?

I used to work on a morning show and it took an all-night effort just to put on four hours of television each morning -- I imagine that these 16-hour programs are a bit like running an entire all-news channel in terms of organization.

The US, Australia, and Canada are lucky that they have their major population centers (and therefore their network HQ) in the east, so their networks can just tape-delay their morning shows. (Plus they have considerably fewer time zones.)
WW
WW Update
KTVK, Phoenix, Good Evening Arizona , 1998:

MI
midnightvignette
Just another query about Russian news - is Russia Today a reflection as to how bad Russian TV news is? I don't know if you can see it from where you are but whenever I tune in I always seem to be on the receiving end of some hysterical conspiracy theorist.

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