Russia’s CTC Media has launched the CTC International channel in Israel. According to the company, which is backed by MTG, the service is being distributed on the Yes satellite platform and HOT cable network, which have a combined total of around 120,000 Russian-speaking subscribers. CTC Media has signed a two-year, non-exclusive deal with the two broadcasters.
CTC International was launched in the US in December 2009 and is a 24-hour family entertainment channel. It sources 80% of its programming from CTC, CTC Media’s Russian national commercial station, and the remaining 20% from CTC Media’s Domashny and DTV channels.
CTC International’s target audience in Israel is the 1 million people, or 13% of the population, that speak Russian.
The pay-TV market in Israel is highly developed, with the number of subscribers already totalling 1.5 million, and HOT was the first company in the world to broadcast CTC content outside Russia, doing so on its VOD platform.
