TH
According to Russian Wikipedia, the Soviet television company, TsT SSSR, had six channels. All had somewhat different fates after that broadcaster was abolished at the end of 1991.
* The first programme was transferred to TsT SSSR's successor Ostankino. Ostankino was transformed into ORT a few years later and is now known as Channel One.
* The second programme was taken over by Yeltsin's Russian broadcaster RTR, who had started broadcasting some programmes on the channel earlier that year. Today it known as Russia 1, and the company behind it is called VGTRK.
* The Moscow programme was replaced by 2x2, an early private commercial network. The frequency was taken over by TV Centr in 1997, which is owned by the Moscow government.
* The fourth programme was the only other channel kept by Ostankino. With a mostly educational and cultural schedule, it remained on the air until 1994, when it was replaced by the new national private network NTV.
* The Leningrad programme came to be known as Channel 5 - Saint Petersburg and was transferred to a separate company. It continued broadcasting nationally until 1997, when it was replaced by Kultura (from RTR).
* The technical channel seemed to be an occasional test frequency, which was given to independent station TV6. It was closed down under suspicious circumstances in 2002 and replaced by a sports channel from VGTRK, now known as Russia 2.
From the 1972 book
The Universal Eye: World Television in the Seventies
by Timothy Green, here's a description of what a TV viewer in Moscow would have seen on a typical evening:
"The choice in Moscow, for instance, at eight o'clock one Tuesday in July 1971 was -- U.S.S.R. soccer championships on Channel 1, a profile of worker in a vacuum cleaner factory on Channel 2, a German lesson on Channel 3, and a new film, Bracelet 2, on Channel 4."
According to Green, the first channel was the flagship channel, broadcast across the Soviet Union, but not simultaneously because of the country's many time zones. The second channel was the local Moscow channel, "concentrating primarily on the capital scene..., covering events of the day, local sports and including plenty of live coverage of concerts and ballet." The third channel was "purely educational," while the fourth channel was mostly highbow/cultural.
At the time, the Soviet Union was the only country to use satellites as a primary method of domestic television distribution.
"The choice in Moscow, for instance, at eight o'clock one Tuesday in July 1971 was -- U.S.S.R. soccer championships on Channel 1, a profile of worker in a vacuum cleaner factory on Channel 2, a German lesson on Channel 3, and a new film, Bracelet 2, on Channel 4."
According to Green, the first channel was the flagship channel, broadcast across the Soviet Union, but not simultaneously because of the country's many time zones. The second channel was the local Moscow channel, "concentrating primarily on the capital scene..., covering events of the day, local sports and including plenty of live coverage of concerts and ballet." The third channel was "purely educational," while the fourth channel was mostly highbow/cultural.
At the time, the Soviet Union was the only country to use satellites as a primary method of domestic television distribution.
According to Russian Wikipedia, the Soviet television company, TsT SSSR, had six channels. All had somewhat different fates after that broadcaster was abolished at the end of 1991.
* The first programme was transferred to TsT SSSR's successor Ostankino. Ostankino was transformed into ORT a few years later and is now known as Channel One.
* The second programme was taken over by Yeltsin's Russian broadcaster RTR, who had started broadcasting some programmes on the channel earlier that year. Today it known as Russia 1, and the company behind it is called VGTRK.
* The Moscow programme was replaced by 2x2, an early private commercial network. The frequency was taken over by TV Centr in 1997, which is owned by the Moscow government.
* The fourth programme was the only other channel kept by Ostankino. With a mostly educational and cultural schedule, it remained on the air until 1994, when it was replaced by the new national private network NTV.
* The Leningrad programme came to be known as Channel 5 - Saint Petersburg and was transferred to a separate company. It continued broadcasting nationally until 1997, when it was replaced by Kultura (from RTR).
* The technical channel seemed to be an occasional test frequency, which was given to independent station TV6. It was closed down under suspicious circumstances in 2002 and replaced by a sports channel from VGTRK, now known as Russia 2.
Last edited by Thinker on 7 March 2013 3:37pm