TV channels Russia

Russian television is remarkably diverse: national networks known to every viewer in the country, round-the-clock newsrooms, entertainment and music channels, children's and educational projects, religious broadcasters and a deep layer of regional stations stretching from Kaliningrad to the Far East.

National Networks

The federal lineup is built around a few institutions. Channel One Russia is the country's flagship federal channel, descending directly from the First Programme of Soviet Central Television. Russia-1 and Russia 24 represent the VGTRK state broadcasting company - the former its national general-interest flagship, the latter a 24-hour news service that grew out of the Vesti channel launched in 2006. NTV, on air since 1993 within Gazprom-Media, built its name on news, drama and crime formats, while REN TV has broadcast since 1997 with a grid mixing news, documentaries and entertainment. The capital is served by TV Center, the public-service slot belongs to OTR - Public Television of Russia, created in 2013 - and the arts are covered by Russia-K, VGTRK's culture channel. Mir TV, the interstate television company created by the CIS states in 1992, keeps a shared Russian-language information space across the former Soviet Union.

News Around the Clock

RBK TV is Russia's leading business news channel, broadcasting from Moscow since 2003 with market coverage and economic analysis. Russia Today - RT - is the state-funded international news channel launched in December 2005, and RTVI serves Russian-speaking audiences abroad with news, talk shows and documentaries. MIR 24 has covered the CIS information space since 2013, Izvestia IZ.RU is the television arm of the historic Izvestia newspaper, and Euronews Russian delivers the European news agenda in Russian. The opinion end of the spectrum is held by Solovyov live, the author project of journalist Vladimir Solovyov launched in 2020, while Crimea 24 broadcasts news and analysis from the peninsula.

Entertainment, Comedy and Sport

STS, on air since December 1996, became the country's defining home of the domestic sitcom. TNT, launched in 1997, grew into one of the country's most popular entertainment channels, and its romance-themed sister channel STS Love sits alongside. Friday! and Che TV add comedy series and lifestyle-tinged entertainment, TV-3 - launched in 1994 - remains the classic entertainment channel with a mystical streak, and 2x2 Channel is the home of animation for an adult audience, from world cartoon classics to anime. Sport has its own federal institution: Match TV, the national sports channel built on live events, sports news and analysis.

Music Television

Muz-TV, on air since 1996, is one of the most iconic channels in the country's broadcasting history. RU.TV is dedicated entirely to Russian-language music, Europa Plus TV extends the Europa Plus radio brand to the screen, and Chanson TV has carried the country's beloved chanson tradition for nearly two decades. Bridge TV has brought international chart hits to Russian screens since 2005, Music Box Russia and 1HD Music Television play domestic pop around the clock, and Tugan Tel broadcasts music in Tatar, Bashkir and Russian from Ufa.

Children, Education and Science

For younger viewers there is Karusel, the federal state channel for children and youth broadcasting around the clock from Moscow, and Jetix with its animated series. Education has its own shelf: Prosveschenie is the national educational channel, Mosobr TV was created by Moscow's Department of Education with lessons and content for schoolchildren, parents and teachers, Unknown Planet TV has popularized science since 1996, and SUSU TV is the television and radio company of South Ural State University.

Religious Broadcasting

Spas is the 24-hour public Orthodox channel that began broadcasting in July 2005 under the Moscow Patriarchate. TV channel Soyuz carries Orthodoxy on air from Yekaterinburg, TBN offers Russian-language Christian television with worship services and Bible teaching, Three Angels is a non-profit network devoted to spiritual development, Radonezh TV builds a family channel on traditional moral values, and Kabbalah TV is devoted to the study of Kabbalah.

Lifestyle, Business and Specialty Channels

Eda TV is the national food channel - its name simply means Food - and World Fashion Channel covers the fashion industry around the clock. Zagorodny is devoted to country living, from construction to garden and landscape design, while Russian World broadcasts culture and education with Orthodox roots from Yekaterinburg. Business viewers get Uspeh TV, a channel about entrepreneurship and success stories, and the Asia-focused media platform Big Asia. Even Russian Railways runs its own screen: the corporate RZD TV channel. Teleshopping is represented by Vitrina TV and Shopping Live, and the political shelf by LDPR TV, the party channel of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Vmeste-RF, the first parliamentary television channel in Russia, broadcasting the work of the Federation Council.

Regional Television

Regional broadcasting is where the country's television shows its full breadth. Kuban 24 has covered Krasnodar Krai since 2016, and Bashkortostan 24 is VGTRK's round-the-clock branch for Bashkortostan. Yenisei TV channel serves the Krasnoyarsk region, Volga TV was Nizhny Novgorod's first independent commercial television company, Astrakhan 24 broadcasts from the Caspian south, and OTV Yekaterinburg has aired its own programming in the Sverdlovsk region since 1997. The state broadcasters of the autonomous regions are here too: Ugra TV for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, RGVK Dagestan from Makhachkala with programming in the republic's languages, and the TV channel Yamal for the Arctic north. City television includes Sochi 24 and Guberniya Khabarovsk in the Far East, while Millet Tv, on air since 2015, broadcasts for the Crimean Tatar audience.