Fashion TV Out of Fashion and Air
The NTV-Plus satellite television halted the broadcasting of the French Fashion TV channel last Sunday. Official reports say that the channel’s contract has expired, but Fashion TV insists that the contract was terminated after NTV-Plus demanded the annual $600,000 to continue the broadcasting.
NTV-Plus has been broadcasting Fashion TV for about ten years. The official report says that Fashion TV has decided not to prolong the contract. It seems, however, that the contract termination came after a conflict between the two parties. The Russian office of Fashion TV told Kommersant that NTV-Plus had been paying the channel some $15,000 a month for the broadcasting till last May when it came up with new terms. The digital satellite network demanded that Fashion TV pay $600,000 a year for “the exclusive placement of the fashion channel or $300,000 for being broadcast along with other fashion channels,” Ekaterina Vitebskaya-Veles, president of Fashion TV Russia, said.
The NTV-Plus satellite television company has been on air since September 1, 1996. The company is owned by Gazprom Media and its subsidiaries, Aura-media and Elion. NTV-Plus has 1-million viewership. The company’s annual turnover is estimated at $190 million.
The French Fashion TV channel is being broadcast in more than 200 countries with 2 million viewers in Russia. Apart form NTV-Plus, the channel is available in the Komkor-TV, Stream-TV and other satellite networks.
The president of Fashion TV Russia says that after her company declined to agree to the terms of NTV-Plus, the network replaced Fashion TV with World Fashion, another fashion channel. NTV-Plus had no comment on Sunday.
Leaving NTV-Plus, Fashion TV loses a large portion of its Russian audience, in Moscow in particular where the channel is aired in bars, restaurants and fitness centers. Fashion TV Russia estimates its profit losses as “significant”.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 29, 2007
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