television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
channel based in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
Channel 5 succeeded the nationwide Leningrad TV channel dating back to 1938, which was immensely popular throughout the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
during the last years of Perestroika with such programs as ''
600 Seconds
''600 Seconds'' (russian: 600 секунд; 1987 to 1993) was an immensely popular TV news program that aired in the Soviet Union and briefly in post-Soviet Russia. It was a nightly broadcast from Leningrad TV with anchor Alexander Nevzorov.
'' of its editor-in-chief,
Alexander Nevzorov
Alexander Glebovich Nevzorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Гле́бович Невзо́ров; born on 3 August 1958) is a Russian (since 2022, also Ukrainian) television journalist, film director and a former member of the Russian State D ...
. However, later the channel lost much of its popularity. In 1997 its nationwide network was transferred to the newly formed
Kultura TV
Russia-K (russian: Россия Культура, translit=Rossiya Kul'tura "Russia - Culture") is a Russian nationwide not-for-profit television channel that broadcasts shows regarding arts and culture. It belongs to the state-controlled VGTRK ...
, and the channel continued broadcasting for Saint Petersburg and
Leningrad Oblast
Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, although it was not until 1 ...
only.
During the tenure of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev (1996–2003) the channel, then entirely controlled by the city administration and supervised by Yakovlev's vice-governors for mass media and PR, Alexander Potekhin (1997–2001) and Irina Potekhina (2001–2003), became dragged into political scandals around the city's political elites. In October 2006 Petersburg – Channel 5 was licensed to broadcast nationwide again.
Ownership
The channel is owned by the
privately held company
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
(NMD) () the chairman (of a board of directors) of which since September 2014 is
Alina Kabaeva
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva or Kabayeva (russian: Алина Маратовна Кабаева, ; tt-Cyrl, Әлинә Марат кызы Кабаева; born 12 May 1983) is a Russian politician, media manager and retired individual rhythmic gym ...
. Olga Paskina is in charge of the
director general
A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals''
) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...
since 2016.
In 2010 approximately 72% of the NMD shares were held by the public company «TRK Peterburg» (TRK - Teleradiocompany, ) which also controls the channel.
According to the owners the Channel 5 maintains its own independent news service.Editorial policies of REN-TV and Fifth channel won't be altered October 22nd, 2009, by LenIzdat news (in Russian)