TV Getting Clearer
High-Definition TV will soon make its appearance in Russia. Corbina Telecom will make the service available to its customers in April. It plans to hook 170,000 of its clients up to it in the next two years and invest over $20 million in the project. Moscow paid digital providers NTV-Plus and Comcor also plan to come out with HDTV this spring.
Corbina will make a Motorola attachment available for about $150 through which it will be possible to view the HDTV channel Luxe TV, devoted to fashion and luxury items. Test service will continue through the end of the summer. Then two more channels will be added to the package, which will cost at least $20 per month, and in a year's time there should be 10-20 channels (in addition to the approximately 80 standard channels on offer).
NTV-Plus, the monopoly satellite provider in Russia, will begin offering three HDTV channels at once in spring, HD Cine, HD Sports and HD Live. Moscow cable and wideband provider Comcor will premier HDTV as well, buying content from NTV-Plus. Comcor expects 2-3 percent of its customers to take advantage of it initially.
Last year, HDTV-ready electronics worth $400-500 million were sold in Russia, and sales of $700-800 million are expected this year, according to public relations director for the Eldorardo chain Timofei Surovtsev. Prices for HDTV receivers fell by 15 percent last year, and will fall another 20 percent this year, and they are being marketed aggressively by manufacturers. Industry analysts point out, however, that, on a national scale, sales of HDTV-ready equipment is insignificant. The complexity and high cost of HDTV infrastructure may be a serious drawback to the introduction of the technology in the country as well and very little of the content on HDTV will be specifically Russian.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 16, 2007
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