New hope for beleagured TV-6
B'caster must find like-minded investor
Staffers look like they may keep their jobs at the station, which will be run by a new holding company made up of 50 employees.
A final court verdict Jan. 11 enforced liquidation at the station, but a meeting to start wind-down proceedings Jan. 14 was cancelled after majority shareholder Boris Berezovsky failed to show up.
The next day, TV-6 director general Yevgeny Kiselyev met staffers, who voted to form a new company to apply for the channel's license when it comes up for auction in April, as well as ask Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin for a temporary broadcasting license until then.
With Kremlin opponent Berezovsky apparently out of the mix, Kiselyev's position looks stronger than it has in a long time -- particularly after Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed support Jan. 16.
Putin puts in a word
Speaking in Paris, Putin said he knew many of the channel's journalists personally and respected their talent, while prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov told a Cabinet meeting in Moscow that he supported the workers' buyout, and he offered "moral support."
It may be too early for TV-6 to start celebrating, however. Only a year ago Putin met Kiselyev and top broadcasters, who were then at rival station NTV -- and three months later they were forced out of their offices in what they claimed was a hostile, politically motivated management takeover.
Though Kiselyev's staff buyout offers the Kremlin a chance to escape international pressure, especially from the U.S., about media freedom, the main bone of contention -- what TV-6 will broadcast in its influential news programs -- remains.
"The question occurs to me: Is there a hint that our fate will depend on whether we are obedient, whether we will learn the right lessons from all we have been through in the last year and a half?" Kiselyev told a Moscow radio station Jan. 17. "We will continue to tell the truth about what is happening in the country, no matter how unattractive it may be."
Making money
With TV-6 now profitable, and with ratings improving, raising investment may not be the hardest of Kiselyev's tasks. The big problem may be finding an investor prepared to back any political line the station takes.
And with details on sales plans for rival NTV expected soon, there is local speculation that it could be acquired by a Kremlin insider.
That would leave Russia's main four national channels either majority-owned by the state or controlled by forces close to the government.
