Channel One (Russia)

Original programming

International series that were broadcasting on Channel One

Former International and Russian animated series

Anime

Walt Disney Presents

• DuckTales 1991, 1992
• Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 1991, 1992
• Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears 1992
• TaleSpin 1992

Political coverage

In autumn of 1999 the channel actively participated in that year's State Duma electoral campaign by criticizing Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, Yevgeny Primakov and their party Fatherland-All Russia, major opponents of the pro-Putin party Unity. Sergey Dorenko, popularly dubbed as TV-killer, was a close ally of business oligarch and media magnate Boris Berezovsky. From September 1999 to September 2000 he hosted the influential weekly program simply called Sergey Dorenko's Program on Saturdays at 9 pm. This was especially heavy on criticism and mercilessly attacked Putin's opponents.^[27][28][29]

In August 2000, however, his program criticized how the Putin government handled the explosion of the Russian submarine Kursk. When Dorenko's show was in turn suspended on 9 September 2000, ORT director-general Konstantin Ernst insisted that — contrary to Dorenko's allegations — the government had not been involved in the change. Ernst stated that he yanked the show because Dorenko had defied his orders to stop discussing the government's plan to nationalize Boris Berezovsky's 49-percent stake in the network.^[30][31][32]

Berezovsky claims that in 2001 he was forced by the Putin administration to sell his shares. He first tried to sell them to a third party, but failed. A close friend of Berezovsky, Nikolai Glushkov, was arrested while seriously ill, and Berezovsky gave up the shares and transferred them to Roman Abramovich's Sibneft with the understanding that Glushkov would then be released. This promise was not fulfilled.^[33][34] Soon after Berezovsky's withdrawal, the new ownership changed the channel's name to Pervy Kanal (Channel One). Konstantin Ernst remains as general director.

2005

According to the inspection^[35] conducted by the Accounts Chamber of Russia and initiated by MP Alexander Lebedev, in 2005 the channel had the following shareholders structure and board of directors:

• Rosimushchestvo – 38.9%;
• ORT Bank Consortium – 24%;
• RastrKom 2002 – 14%;
• EberLink – 11%;
• ITAR-TASS – 9.1%;
• TTTs – 3%.

Alexey Gromov (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Press Secretary of President Vladimir Putin)

Konstantin Ernst (Director General of the Channel One)

Alexander Dzasokhov (then President of North Ossetia–Alania)

Galina Karelova (Chairman of Russia's Social Insurance Fund)

Mikhail Lesin (Adviser to President Vladimir Putin, former Mass Media Minister)

Nikita Mikhalkov (President of Russia's Cinematographers Union)

Mikhail Piotrovsky (Director of the State Hermitage Museum)

Ilya Reznik (poet, composer)

Alexander Chaikovsky (Chairman of the Composition Department of Moscow Conservatory)

Mikhail Shvydkoi (Chief of the Federal Agency of Culture and Cinematography, former Culture Minister of Russia)

ORT Bank Consortium, RastrKom 2002 and EberLink (49%) are controlled by Roman Abramovich, while Rosimushchestvo, ITAR-TASS and TTTs vote on behalf of the Russian state (51%).^[36]

2006

As of 2006, the Board of Directors of the Channel One consisted of:

Sergei Naryshkin (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Minister, Chief of Staff of the Russian Government);

Konstantin Ernst (Director General of the Channel One);

Lyudmila Pridanova (Deputy Head of Rosimushchestvo);

Alexey Gromov (Press Secretary of President Vladimir Putin);

Mikhail Lesin (Adviser to President Vladimir Putin, former Mass Media Minister);

Nikita Mikhalkov (President of Russia's Cinematographers Union);

Mikhail Piotrovsky (Director of the State Hermitage Museum);

Ilya Reznik (poet, composer);

Alexander Chaikovsky (Chairman of the Composition Department of Moscow Conservatory, Rector of Saint Petersburg Conservatory);

Mikhail Shvydkoi (Chief of the Federal Agency of Culture and Cinematography, former Culture Minister of Russia).

2021

In 2021, VTB Bank owned 32.89% of shares.^[37]

Vladimir Putin's close friend Yuriy Kovalchuk, through his holding company National Media Group, owns stakes in several of Russia's most influential television channels, including Channel One.^[38][39]

2023

As of 2023, the state owned 34.23% of Channel One, along with a "golden share". VTB Bank controlled 32.89% of the shares, National Media Group owned 19.46%, and Sogaz held a 13.42% stake.^[40]

Active

Channel One owns some digital-only television channels (under brand Channel One Digital TV-family, Цифровое телесемейство Первого канала):

• Dom Kino (Cinema House) — movies
• Dom Kino Premium (Cinema House Premium) — movies
• Muzyka Pervogo (Channel One Music) — music
• Vremya (Time) — 20th century history
• Telecafe (Television Café) — food
• Bobyor (Beaver) — lifestyle
• O! — family
• Poyekhali (Let's Go) — travel
• Karusel (in co-operation with VGTRK) (Carousel) – for children

Defunct

• Telenyanya (TeleNanny) — for children

Pro-government bias

Critics charge that Channel One's news and information programs are frequently used for propaganda purposes. As Konstantin Ernst stated in his interview to The New Yorker, "it would be strange if a channel that belonged to the state were to express an anti-government point of view".^[41] The critics contend that Channel One airs a disproportionate number of stories focusing on positive aspects of official government policy, while largely neglecting certain controversial topics such as war in Chechnya or social problems. In addition, some have argued that the station's news reports often blur the line between factual reporting and editorial commentary, especially when broadcasting stories concerning Russian government policies or goals.

As of 2006, Vladimir Pozner, Ekaterina Andreeva, Pyotr Tolstoy and Mikhail Leontiev are among the most known political journalists of the channel. On Sunday, 28 January 2006, the Channel One news and analytical program Sunday Time (Voskresnoye Vremya) hosted by Petr Tolstoy distorted the content of a speech by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko related to the Russia-Belarus energy dispute to the contrary by editing it and deleting some crucial words.^[42]

Moreover, various media reported that the channel presented biased coverage of other events that were closely connected to Russia's foreign policy, including the Ukrainian elections to the Verkhovna Rada in 2007, the Euromaidan of 2013–2014, and the following annexation of Crimea.^[43][44][45] The channel was also criticized for ignoring Alexei Navalny's political activities, namely his participation in the Moscow mayoral election of 2013.^[46] Vladimir Pozner, one of the channel's most popular TV hosts, once admitted in an interview to The New Yorker that there is a list of people who are not allowed to participate in his show.^[41]

According to a BBC News analysis by Stephen Ennis, the channel has in its reports about Ukraine's war in Donbas "sought to further demonise and dehumanise the Ukrainian army".^[47]

Channel One news reports on 16 January 2016 about a 13-year-old girl with German and Russian citizenship in Berlin who was allegedly raped by immigrants was denounced by the German police as fake.^[48] German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has accused the Russian government of using the alleged rape for "political propaganda".^[48]

On 26 February 2018, Channel One used footage from multinational military simulation organization Echelon International, attempting to pass it off as authentic Syrian War footage.^[49]

On 14 March 2022, Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor for Channel One, interrupted a live broadcast of Vremya to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, carrying a poster stating in a mix of Russian and English: "Stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, here you are being lied to."^{[50][51][52][53][54]}

Original programming on historical themes

Some of the television period dramas produced by Channel One were series criticized for low level of historical accuracy, for instance – Brezhnev,^[55] The Saboteur,^[56] Yesenin^[57] and Trotsky.^[58]

Cruelty to animals

On the morning of 12 January 2008, during the current affairs program Health (Russian: «Здоровье») hosted by Yelena Malysheva covering Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rat was violently killed in one of the segments. Some viewers stated that this was intolerable for a program whose audience includes children, and that it violated the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.^{[59][60][61][62][63]} In particular, some claim that viewing such violent and cruel scenes poorly affected the health of some children and people.^[64]

Logo history

Its first logo in 1991 featured a blocky "1", with a significantly thinner black square outline. On 1 April 1995, this was replaced with a simple "1" block, with a circle outline, but on 1 October 1995, a logo featuring an italic "1" was launched, with the ОРТ typograph. An alternate version of the 1995 logo had blue and white colors.

On 1 January 1997, another logo featuring a golden italic "1" was launched, with a partial ring and the ОРТ letters now in 3 separate blocks, which was designed by Novocom, along with Igor Barbe. On 1 October 2000, the current logo was launched, featuring a "1" with a partial cut, on a dark blue background. The current logo was designed by ORT Design. With the renaming of "ОРТ" to "Channel One Russia" on 2 September 2002, the idents were changed to match the new network's name; however, the 2000 logo is still used.

• 
  27 December 1991 - 31 March 1995
• 
  1 April - 30 September 1995
• 
  1 October 1995 - 31 December 1996
• 
  Alternate version of the 1995 logo
• 
  1 January 1997 - 30 September 2000
• 
  30 September/1 October 2000 – present