Digital TV channels are gone. What buttons are your favorite shows now?

In the second half of August, viewers found that their familiar channels had disappeared from the usual buttons on the console. RBC demonstrated how the sequence of channels in the broadcasting grid of different operators has changed

In July, the President of Russia signed amendments to the Law on Communication and On Media, which resulted in changes in the numbering of TV and radio channels: the sequence of the first 20 "buttons on the remote," or the first and second digital multiplexes, should now be uniform , they must be placed mandatory public television channels. In addition to the document, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media is now preparing explanations for operators on how to number channels.

As representatives of Rostelecom, Akado Telecom and MTS explained, some digital cable television operators have already begun to comply with the decree and have begun to make changes in the numbering and arrangement of the channels in their networks. Concerning analog television, there are no direct instructions to change the channel order in frequency on analog networks, however some service operators decided to do it themselves.

Shuffling channels caused confusion among many TV viewers - in the last week social networks were constantly discussing the “loss” of certain channels. The representative of "Akado Telecom" connects the misunderstanding on the part of users with the fact that the operators did not provide timely full information to their subscribers.

What is the reason

As part of the planned transition from analogue television to digital broadcasting in Russia, at least two digital multiplexes should have been created. Multiplex - a package of channels that is distributed on a single frequency. If today the signal of most terrestrial channels is available only in cities with a population of over 100 thousand people (viewers of small towns watch these channels thanks to local cable networks and satellite operators), then digital multiplex  should be available in almost the entire country.

Initially it was assumed that analogue television broadcasting would be completely disabled in Russia in 2015, now they are talking about 2019th.

For the first multiplex infrastructure was built on public money. This multiplex includes all the all-Russian compulsory publicly accessible channels, defined by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated June 24, 2009. Now these are “First Channel”, “Russia 1”, “Russia K”, “Russia 24”, NTV, “Fifth Channel”, “Karusel”, Public Television of Russia and “TV Center” In addition, the first multiplex included the sports channel "Match TV", which in November will replace the "Russia 2".

The infrastructure of the second multiplex is not fully completed yet. The second multiplex is commercial. The construction of its infrastructure is paid for by the broadcasters themselves, who were selected to be multiplexed at the competition. These are REN TV, Spas, STS, Domashniy, TV-3, Zvezda, Mir, TNT and Muz TV. Now the second multiplex also includes the Sport Plus channel, on the basis of which the already mentioned Match TV is being created. Roskomnadzor has already announced a competition for a place that will become free after the reorganization of Sport Plus.

Last July, the State Duma approved amendments to the laws “On Mass Media” and “On Communication”, which extended the concept of “mandatory public channel”, approved by the Council of Federation and signed by President Putin. Now these are not only the first ten broadcasters, as defined by a presidential decree, but also all participants of digital multiplexes. Cable and satellite operators must distribute free of charge all publicly available channels on their networks. Now providers have to broadcast 20 channels for free. In addition, the law obliges to allocate the first twenty positions (buttons) for these mandatory public channels in their networks.

Thus, broadcasters from the second multiplex achieved free distribution in cable networks  via satellite, but most of them boycott the construction of the infrastructure of the multiplex itself.

Problem area

In 2013, all participants of the second multiplex concluded ten-year contracts with the FSUE “Russian Television and broadcast network»(RTRS), under which they pledged to annually finance the construction of infrastructure. As stated in the CTC Media reporting, this year the company must pay about $ 4.2 million for the digital distribution of its CTS and Domashny channels in cities with a population of over 50 thousand people, the amount for the next year in accordance with the agreement will be determined in October. For the construction of digital infrastructure in cities with a population of less than 50 thousand people, CTC Media in 2015-2018 should allocate 1.4 billion rubles. (about $ 25.6 million at the rate as of June 30).

But CTC Media is the only company that regularly pays RTRS for the participation of its channels in the second multiplex, all other broadcasters have accumulated debts to the FSUE, the leaders of the TV channels unofficially admit. Accounts receivable from buyers and customers to RTRS in 2014 more than doubled to 2.6 billion rubles, as indicated in accounting statements  FSUE. But it’s not in a hurry to collect debts from the participants of the second multiplex of RTRS: in the base of arbitration courts there is not a single claim against broadcasters.

In June, an official RBC request about the debts of the participants of the second multiplex, the head of the press service of RTRS, Igor Stepanov, answered that he “did not consider it possible” to comment on this question, since “this information is subject to confidentiality”. The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, which oversees RTRS, does not have information about the debts of broadcasters to the FSUE, followed from the response of the Deputy Minister of Communications Alexei Volin to the RBC request. The broadcasters themselves also declined to comment on questions about their debt to RTRS.

Due to changes in legislation in the TVs, the Russians messed up channels

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS

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“Instead of the First,“ Domashny ”suddenly appeared at me,“ RBC disappeared, and in its place an Orthodox “Savior” appeared, “they are full of social networks with such puzzled comments. For many Russians, the channels on TVs changed places and the usual pressing of a button began to lead to unpredictable consequences. I wanted elephants on Discovery, and received Dom-2 on TNT. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" found out what happened and how to be now.

1. In Russia, since 2009, the so-called “List of all-Russian compulsory publicly available TV channels and radio channels” has been established, which was approved by a presidential decree. The list includes 10 basic "buttons". Regularly in this list, the President makes changes and additions. For example, in July, an amendment was made due to the fact that from November 1, the channel "Russia 2" is transformed into the channel "Match TV". This “mandatory ten” is included in the so-called first digital multiplex (recall, Russia is gradually moving to digital broadcasting  TV and radio channels). There is also a second multiplex - this list is formed as a result of competitions of the Federal Competition Commission on Television and Radio Broadcasting, and this is another 10 well-known TV channels.

2.   Thus, for quite a long time in our country there is a list of 20 main channels, which appear in official documents on strictly defined positions: Channel One - at number 1, and, say, the children's channel "Carousel" - at number 8. But earlier the law did not require cable and satellite television operators to comply with this procedure. Therefore, your particular provider could, for example, place NTV at least at the 10th position (and not at the 4th, as it appears in the presidential decree).

3.   In July of this year, the laws “On Mass Media” and “On Communication” were amended. In particular, the law now clearly defines how the sequence of channels is determined. And it is understood that the operators must follow this sequence. The other day, the location of the channels in line with the law brought Rostelecom. And so some TVs massively "gone crazy."

We warned about future changes on August 13, - said "KP" head of External Communications Department at Rostelecom Valery Kostarev.  - The reordering of the first 20 TV channels affected all subscribers of analog cable, digital cable TV and Interactive TV of Rostelecom, and this 8.2 million households throughout Russia.

4.   Of course, changes in the legislation apply not only to Rostelecom, but absolutely to all operators of broadcasting services. Therefore, a small mess may happen in the TVs of those who use the services of other operators. Or maybe someone will have everything in the old way: this is if your operator has already built channels for a long time according to the official list - on its own initiative.

5. In general, nothing terrible happened. The law did not change the long-established arrangement of channels. This has changed on your TV in particular - only because your operator preferred his own version of the arrangement of the “buttons”, since the law did not prohibit it.

6.   What to do if you don’t like the proposed channel order? Just take the remote and reconfigure the TV as you like. Do you want RBC under the number "1" - please. I don’t like “Spas” on the 12th button - replace it with “Hunting and fishing”, which you may “fade away” on the 50th line. But the official list of the first 20 channels, which operators are now obliged to follow, looks like this:

1. Channel One

2. Russia-1

4. NTV

5. Petersburg-5 channel

6. Russia-K

7. Russia-24

8. Carousel

9. Russian Public Television

10. TVC

11. Ren TV

12. SPAS

13. CTC

14. Home

15. TV3

16. NTV-PLUS Sport Plus

17. Star

18. The World

19. TNT

20. Moose TV.

All other channels (in some paid cable or satellite packages  there are more than 500 of them!) the operator can place in any order.

7.   Why do the subscribers of Rostelecom, who use the cheapest analog cable tv, simultaneously with the change in the order of the “buttons”, did Eurosport 2 and Sport 1 completely disappear?

These TV channels were excluded for technical reasons - due to the limited frequency resource of the network (no more than 52 TV channels), - they answered us at Rostelecom.

Sports programs these subscribers can watch on “Russia 2” (which will soon become “Match TV”) and on “NTV plus Sport Plus”. And, of course, if you wish, they can always connect an extended channel package.

. . . . .

MOSCOW, August 26. / TASS /. Operators of house antennas in Moscow began to fulfill federal requirements in the order of provision “Mandatory”  TV channels. So explained the failure of the layout of channels in home TVs in the metropolitan department of information technology.

. . . . .   “Mandatory” TV menu now looks like this: on the first “ button ”  - The first channel, the second - “ Russia 1 ", 3 - “Russia 2 " (from 1.11.2015 - “Match TV”), 4 - NTV, 5 - Petersburg-5 channel, 6 - “ Russia-K ”, 7 - Russia-24, 8 - Karusel, 9 - Russian Public Television, 10 - TV Center. There are a total of 20 menus. “Mandatory”  channels.