Public Television of Russia

Public Television of Russia (OTR, Russian: Общественное Телевидение России, ОТР, romanized: Obshchestvennoye Televideniye Rossii) is a Russian television station, which started broadcasting on 19 May 2013.^[2]

History

On 17 April 2012,

In June 2012 the

In September 2012 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution establishing Public Television of Russia as an independent non-commercial organization. The charter was also approved and added to the resolution.^[6]

Anatoly Lysenko, the director-general of the channel, said shortly before the official opening that "the channel would be educational and was supposed to become a new forum for discussing urgent problems that are a source of concern for Russian society. The channel should also be an instrument of direct and open communication between the people and the authorities".^[7]

Organization

The Supervisory Board includes 25 prominent TV and public figures and among its members are also church representatives. A law on the creation of the Supervisory Board was approved. A new non-profit organization set up to run the Public Television gets the right to make an announcement about public collection of funds to form a special purpose capital, while ordinary non-profit organizations can collect funds only to refill this capital.^[5]

Funding

PTR is funded by a mix of Russian government subsidies and public donations. As of 2013 PTR received a combined total of 1.2 bil RUB, the vast majority of which came from state funds.^[8]

Broadcasting

The Presidential decree says the