Russia’s Ministry of Communications still plans to launch what has been described as a ‘Russian Discovery’.
According to Tele-Sputnik and AKTR, the first deputy minister of communications Alexei Volin first announced the project in October 2014, when the launch date was expected to be last year.
Now, he has said that negotiations are progressing, without specifying at what stage the project is at and the launch date.
Meanwhile, Digital TV, which is a joint venture between RTR and Rostelecom, has said it has heard nothing about the international Discovery-type channel being created by the ministry.
Its own portfolio includes Planeta, an educational channel launched in 2014 that owns the rights to its content broadcast overseas.
However, the channel has been developed without the support of the Ministry of Communications.