Russia will shortly have its own documentary channel, competing directly with the likes of Discovery and National Geographic.
Kommersant reports that the owners of the satellite-delivered music channel Bridge TV, who include the Siberian oil company Burnefetegaz, will launch a channel named Russian Travel Guide (RTG TV) this April.
Start up costs of the service will be $40 million (€31.1 million), $15 million of which has already been spent on infrastructure and the production of 80 hours of content.
RTG TV, which will broadcast six hour blocks, repeated four times a day, will be available for distribution at R4 (€0.09) a month for Russian operators and €0.1 a month for foreign companies.
It will also be funded by advertising and aim to break even by 2013.
