Gazprom-Media has finally completed the acquisition of Tricolor TV, Russia’s leading DTH platform in terms of subscriber numbers.
Although the deal was first announced a year ago, surprise reports last week revealed that it had still not been concluded. However, as AKTR and Vedomosti now say, quoting Dmitry Samokhin, the CEO of NTV-Plus, this is now no longer the case.
Even so, there are still many questions that remain unanswered. The most important is undoubtedly what will now happen to Tricolor TV and NTV-Plus, the upscale DTH operation also owned by Gazprom-Media.
Although the two platforms target entirely different audiences, there is a possibility they may be merged. This would nevertheless require the approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).
Gazprom-Media may now also raise the subscription fees for Tricolor TV, which would inevitably lead to a significant loss in subscriber numbers.
