Russia will see the launch of at least three new digital TV sports channels this year.
According to reports in Kommersant and Lenta, Channel One and VGTRK, the country’s two leading broadcasters, plan to launch a cable and satellite-delivered service named 2 Sport 2. It will benefit from the rights already held by the broadcasters to include such events as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in its output.
Channel One and VGTRK are also understood to be cooperating on a channel that will show the 200 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, though at this stage it is not clear if it is the same as 2 Sport 2.
VGTRK in addition plans to launch two further channels, named Sport 1 and Sport 2, before the end of the year.
Furthermore, it is replacing the channel Sport, which closed at the beginning of this month, with a service named Russia-2 that is expected to offer a large amount of sports programming.
