DUSHANBE, April 2, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik authorities have decided to terminate the rebroadcasting of RTR-Planeta, which is the arm of Russia’s state broadcaster, The All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK or RTR), in the country completely, the deputy head of the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting, Samad Hikmatov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, RTR-Planeta’s rebroadcast was halted in the country through fault of VGTRK. “The final decision on this subject was taken today,” said Hikmatov said. “There will be no further negotiations and TR-Planeta’s rebroadcast frequency will be given to one of local national TV channels.”
He further added VGTRK now owed more than 7 million Russian rubles to Tajikistan’s open joint-stock company (OJSC) Teleradiokom for relaying services provided over the first two months of this year.
“The Russian side was delaying payments for relay services last year as well,” said Hikmatov, “Thus, relay services for June were paid in September and relay services for November-December were paid only in February this year.” This time, VGRTK also cannot guarantee timely payments, saying that it is federally funded organization that does allow it making payments opportunely, Hikmatov said.
We well recall that the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting decided to suspend RTR-Planeta’s rebroadcast in the country on March 2 this year. In explaining the official decision, the head of the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting Asadullo Rahmonov said RTR-Planeta did not have a valid contract covering broadcasting rights in Tajikistan for 2009.
A VGTRK representative, Sergey Koshlyakov, complained that Teleradiokom was not playing by the rules. “The increase is unscheduled and not included in our company’s budget; this is why the negotiations are slack,” Koshlyakov told Russian media on March 2. However, VGTRK officials have reportedly agreed to pay a hefty 50 percent rate increase for 2009.
It is to be noted that RTR-Planeta was the only Russian TV channel broadcasted in Tajikistan. In 1997, Public Russian television (ORT), currently Channel One, was terminated for the same reasons.
According to Teleradiokom, only 15 percent of Tajikistan’s population has satellite dishes. It means that only they now may pick up Russian TV programs.
RTR-Planeta is an integral part of RTR”s commitment to global broadcasting and provides Russian-speaking audiences around the globe with a solid ethnic connection. RTR-Planeta is an international 24-hour general channel available throughout the world via cable and satellite. In fact, RTR Planeta is the only provider of Russian-language programming to the Asia-Pacific region covered by the AsiaSat2 Satellite.
