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Russia & the Caucuses
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Russia & the Caucuses This month Wotsat looks at free TV from Russia & the Caucuses and how to get it
Russian kids’ TV remembers the Siberian tiger
Toolkit What you need to receive free TV from Russia and the Caucuses n Free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 70cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Eutelsat W2 (16°E) for Bulgaria and Moldova n 70cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Express AM1 (40°E) for Russia n 120cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Sirius 4 (4.8°E) for the Ukraine n See Channel Check for dish sizes required on other satellites
Free TV is alive and well in the former Soviet Union as we look at three former client states and Russia. But you’ll need a dish that’s either large or well-aligned, with an unobscured view to the eastern horizon to pick up satellites like Express AM1. The main challenge is skew (the rotation of the LNB itself), which could tip reception below the threshold if it’s set up for typical European satellites. Bulgaria offers a surprising number of free music channels, both home-grown and international rock and pop, and from its own vibrant fusion of traditional folk recognisable from the Eurovision Song Contest. BNT Sat is a ‘rights-cleared’ version of the state-funded Bulgarian National Television, aimed at the expat community generated since the country opened up and its economy collapsed in the 1990s. Ironically, one hit show, Dalekogled, started out looking at foreigners coming to Bulgaria but now interviews Bulgarians who have returned with money and education from the West. Beyond BNT Sat, you can also tune
Do you recognise this old British favourite? 2 What Satellite & Digital TV
News is news, in Cyrillic or English
into several private entertainment channels. Moldova may be smaller and poorer, but it also has an international version of the state channel, and a local version of Russianbased STS (or CTC in Cyrillic), which caters for the Russian-speaking minority. The independent channel EuTV is an interesting find if your dish is large enough although, like most independent media, it has to be cautious about criticising the government. You only need a Sky box for Russia Today, the English-language news channel, and even Hot Bird will get you the state-run Perviy Kanal (Channel One), RTR Planeta, and the interesting Ulibka Rebyonka. This children’s channel help Russian expats counter the corrupting influence of Western media. The Kremlin dominates so much that there’s little independence in Russian TV news but you might see some interesting regional news if you can see as far as Express AM22 53°E, but it’s very low on the horizon here. There’s a whole bouquet of Russian pay-TV on Hot Bird for expats. If your dish can reach to either Sirius 4 or Amos 2 (the latter needs at least 1.5m in the UK), there are many Ukrainian channels to see. Aside from pop music, there are some interesting sights like English Club TV, for Ukrainians wanting to learn English, the international channels Inter+ and Slavonic Channel International, some regional TV, and M2 Estrada, dedicated to folk culture n
Next on Euro Spotlight
Get a taste of Christianity, Orthodox-style
Pjatj iz luchshih Five of TV’s most popular shows in Russia and The Caucuses
Schastlivy Vmeste
TNT (Russia) The Russian remake of Married With Children has been a huge success since 2007, relocating the middle-class family sitcom from Chicago to Yekaterinburg.
Dalekogled
BNT (Bulgaria) In The Returnees journalist Nikolina Dimitrova meets Bulgarians who left the country in the 1990s and returned after it joined the EU, to start businesses.
Kopojok
5 Kanal (Ukraine) An ironic talk show about political and social problems in Ukraine that never runs short of high-profile targets.
Vedete La Bis
Moldova International Stars Encore (basically Stars In Their Eyes) is hosted by Moldova’s 2009 Eurovision entrant, Nelly Ciobanu.
Spokoynoy noçi malısi
Telekanal Rossiya (Russia) Children’s puppet show Good Night Kids, hosted by former Russian Miss Universe, Oxana Federova.
n Free TV from North Africa
It’s very cold in winter, but the summer’s hot
We’ve checked, and not all Russian fashion is this bad
Euro spotlight See Channel Check page 56 for frequencies
Footprint
Free TV channels CHANNEL
GENRE
Free Bulgarian TV 7 Dni TV Balkanika Music TV BGTV ✦ BNT Sat City TV ✦ EBF EKids Estate TV Evrochans ✦ Evrofutbol Fan TV Folklor TV Heros TV ✦ Kanal 3 ✦ Mad TV Bulgaria ✦ MM ✦ Planeta Folk ✦ Re:TV SK Folk Telestar TV ✦ The Voice TV Bulgaria ✦ Tiankov TV ✦ Travel TV Int’l ✶ TV SKAT ✦ ✦ VTV
Rolling news Folk music General entertainment General entertainment Pop music Business TV Children’s entertainment Rolling news General entertainment Football Pop music Folk music General entertainment General entertainment Pop music Pop music Folk culture News & docs Folk culture Shopping Pop music Folk culture Travel shopping Christian entertainment Nature docs
Note: All channels on Eutelsat W2, 16°E, except: ✶ Intelsat 12, 45°E; ✦ Hellas Sat 2, 39°E; ✦ Thor 3, 1°W
Free Moldovian TV euTV ✦ Moldova International STS TV Dixi
General entertainment Expat entertainment Youth entertainment
NOTE: All channels on Eutelsat W2, 16°E, except: ✦ Thor 3, 1°W
Free Russian TV A-One ✱ Bridge TV ♥ CNL Sibir ✤ Dom Kino Expert TV ✪ GTRK Groznyi ✪ Mir Music Box Ru ♥ Muz TV ✪ Muzyka 3 NN TV Perviy kanal ✪ ♥ RTR Planeta ♥ Ru TV ♥ Rusiya Al-Yaum ❖ ♥ Russia Today ■ ❍ ♥ Samarskoe Gubernskoe TV ✪ Sarafan ♥ STS ✭ TBN Rossiya ♥ ✤ Telecafe Telekanal Domashniy
Pop music Pop music Religion (Christian) Russian films Current affairs Regional (Chechnya) CIS news Pop music Pop music Pop music General entertainment General entertainment General entertainment Pop music News in Arabic News in English General entertainment General entertainment Youth entertainment Religion (Christian) Shopping General entertainment
CHANNEL
GENRE
Telekanal Rossiya Telekanal Sport Telenyanya TNT TNV Tartarstan TRK Nadym ✪ Nadymskoyo) TV Centr Ulibka Rebyonka ♥ Vesti ♥ Vremya 4 World Music Channel ✪
General entertainment Sports Family entertainment General entertainment Regional (Tartarstan) Regional (Nadym Regional (Moscow) Children’s entertainment News History & people Pop music
NOTE: All channels on Express AM1, 40°E, except: ✪ Express AM22, 53°E; ■ Eurobird 1, 28.5°E; ❖ Badr 4, 26°E; ❍ Astra 1, 19.2°E; ✭ Eutelsat W2, 16°E; ♥ Hot Bird, 13°E; ✱ Sirius 4, 4.8°E; ✤ Amos 2, 4°W
Free Ukrainian TV 1+1 ✤ 2T 5 Kanal Babay ✤ Citi CNL Ukraina ✤ English Club TV Enter Film Enter Music TV Glas Gumor TV ✤ Inter+ K1 ✤ K2 ✤ Kiko
General entertainment General entertainment Current affairs Regional (Babay) Regional (Kiev) Religion (Christian) Language learning Films Pop music Religion (Christian) Humour Expat TV General entertainment Women’s entertainment Children’s entertainment
Kino ✤ KRT M1 ✤ M2 Estrada ✤ Menu TV MTV Ukraina ✤ Music Box Ukraina ✤ News 24 ✤ Novy Kanal OK OTV Music ✤ Planeta Pro Vse ✭ QTV ✤ Rada Real Estate TV ✤ Shopping TV Slavonic Channel Int’l Star TV Svit Telekanal STB ✤ Tisa 1 Tonis ✤ Turburo UBC UBR ✤
Films Regional (Kiev) Pop Music Folk music Cookery Pop music Pop music News General entertainment Pop music Pop music Russian programming General entertainment General entertainment Ukrainian parliament Property news & tips Shopping Expat entertainment Pop music General entertainment General entertainment Regional (Uzhhorod) Current affairs Tourist info Business news Business news
16°E Known as a hot-spot not just for East European free and pay-TV channels, the 16°E spot is also popular for news feeds and other occasional users because it offers low rates in a highly accessible orbital position from almost anywhere in Europe, from Portugal to Romania. The 11-year-old satellite was due to be replaced in 2008 by the more powerful and flexible W2M, built in a pioneering partnership with the Indian Space research Organisation’s commercial arm, Antrix, but the spacecraft suffered a major power anomaly shortly after launch and was deemed unviable. It will now be replaced in 2010 by the even larger W3B, which also carries Ka-band transponders for two-way broadband services. This launch has proved controversial, using a Chinese rocket instead of Eutelsat’s preferred Ariane or Proton launchers. n Operator: Eutelsat
Satellites n Eutelsat W2
Launched: Ariane 4, Kourou, October 5, 1998 Launch mass: 2,965kg Manufacturer: Alcatel Space Spacebus 3000B2 Transponders: 24 Ku-band EIRP: 50dBW Beams: Widebeam Europe, Madagascar n Eutelsat W3B
Launched: Chang Zheng-3B, China, mid-2010 Launch mass: 5,400kg Manufacturer: Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000C3 Transponders: 53 Ku-band, 3 Ka-band EIRP: 51.5dBW Beams: Widebeam Europe, Steerable Madagascar
More footprints at www.eutelsat.com Astrology is nonsense in any language
Slick graphics for Ukrainian current affairs What Satellite & Digital TV 3