The Modern Times Group (MTG) channel TV1000 Russian Kino has been launched in Israel on the DTH platform yes. As a result, MTG’s global footprint has been increased to 38 countries.
The channel is part of the Russian Super Premium package and will also be available on the yesGo multi-screen TV Everywhere service. Furthermore, feature movies from the channel are available on yes’ VOD service.
There are around one million Russian speakers in Israel and yes reaches some 600,000 households, equivalent to 40% of the total number receiving pay-TV services.
TV1000 Russian Kino shows original Russian language movies and is the most popular pay-TV channel in the country, with over 26 million viewers each month. It is also available in the US.
Commenting on the launch in Israel, Irina Gofman, MTG executive VP and CEO of the Group’s Russian, CIS and Pay-TV Emerging Markets operations, said: “TV1000 Russian Kino is the most popular Russian language movie channel in the world and features the latest and best movies the country has to offer, so we are thrilled that our expansion of the reach of this channel continues. Our portfolio of factual and movie channels tell amazing stories in scripted and non-scripted formats and are now regarded as must-have channels by pay-TV operators worldwide.”
Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, MTG president and CEO, commented: “Our wholesale channel business has constantly expanded into new markets since it was launched more than ten years ago. This is the second new market that we have entered this year after Turkey in January. We now have almost 100 million subscriptions to our channels, which shows just how much viewers love our content. The journey continues!”
Ron Eilon, CEO of yes dbs Satellite Services (1998) Ltd., commented: “yes is happy to announce the launch of TV1000 Russian Kino channel on our platform. The Russian speaking audience constitutes a large and important part of yes’s subscriber base. The launch of a new and contemporary channel, specialising in the best Russian language movies, proves that yes is consistently investing in, and improving, its offering to the Russian speaking audience.”
