MOSCOW, May 26, Asia-Plus -- Russian TV station “Channel One” (formerly ORT or Russian Public TV) has launched especially for Caucasian and Central Asian states a new channel “Channel One CIS”.

Top managers of the “Channel One” TV Company have hosted a news conference on this subject.  During the conference it was noted that in accordance with requirements of international laws on protection of copyright and standards of the International Broadcast Union, a satellite signal of the Russian TV station “Channel One” broadcasting over the territory of the Russian Federation was coded on May 25.  

Mr. Igor Burenkov, representative from the “Channel One” board of directors, told journalists that a decision on launching “Channel One. CIS”, a version especially created for the CIS states, had been made taking into account popularity of the ORT programs.  “15 million residents of Caucasus and Central Asia have daily been with us, and we remain with them but in rather different version,” Mr. Burenkov noted.    

“Channel One” states we remain on air of the CIS states in earnest and for long time,” Aleksey Efimov, head of the “Channel One” international broadcast department, said, noting that they had done a lot for clearing the channel of unlicensed products.

  As it had been reported earlier, in Tajikistan, only those who have satellite dishes and clients of the Dushanbe TV-Service company will be able to pick up programs of “Channel One CIS”.  We will recall that broadcast of the Russian station ORT has been suspended in Tajikistan since 1997.