Russian public broadcaster faces funding threat

Russia’s new public broadcast TV service, which began broadcasting last week, may be forced to close due to a shortfall in funding, according to local reports.

CEO Anatoly Lysenko told local journalists that the public broadcaster, OTV, had already spent RUB700 million (€17 million) of the RUB1.5 billion originally allocated to the project this year, meaning that the channel is expected to run out of funds in the autumn.

OTV, which is seen as a pet project of former president Dmitry Medvedev, is broadcast over cable, satellite and IPTV networks as well as over the air.