On February 20, the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine upheld a decision on the issuance of two satellite broadcasting licenses, as Telekritika reports. The TV companies that obtained the licenses were: TRC Ukraina, which had submitted an application for the Novyny (News) satellite information TV channel, and TRC Ekspres Inform, which had been planning to use the satellite broadcasting for the Pyaty (5^th) TV channel development.

The National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine considered the question of issuing a broadcasting license to the Novyny (News) TV channel three times. The decision had been postponed till getting the TRC Ukraina examination results.

The Novyny (News) TV channel will have morning, day and evening broadcasting. News are going to be  aired each hour. Besides, morning shows, analytical interviews and comments will be offered on the TV channel. Yury Sugak, the director of the TRC Ukraina information service, will probably take an office of the Novyny (News) director.           

According to Ivan Adamchuk, the director general of TRC Ekspres Inform, the company is going to set the Pyaty (5^th) TV channel satellite broadcasting. This will happen to be already the second Pyaty (5^th) TV channel in the Cosmos. The NBM TV company, the Ekspres Inform’s broadcasting partner, also holds a satellite broadcasting license. It seems that TRC Ekspres Inform needs the second one to separate both TV companies which are broadcasting at the same TV channel at the present moment.    

The separation of TRC Ekspres Inform and the NBM TV company has been discussed since December 5, when the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine allocated the channels of channels of the national digital multi-channel television network ‘ÌÕ-4’ between Ukrainian TV  companies (read about this at http://www.mediabusiness.com.ua/content/view/9905/42/lang,en/).

According to the tender results, the Pyaty (5^th) TV channel got two positions in the digital multiplex: in the MPEG 2 standard (the channel known as M1 is going to be occupied by the Pershy Natsionalny, 1+1, Inter and ICTV TV channels, and TRC Ekspres Inform) and in the MPEG 4 standard (the channel known as M4 is going to be occupied by the NBM and Era TV companies, and the contest for other 8 positions is expected to be very tough). 

Ihor Kurus, the First Deputy Head of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, explained the decision on the separation of TRC Ekspres Inform and NBM at the briefing meeting which took place on December 5. He told that both TV companies were brought to broadcast at the Pyaty (5^th) TV channel by the lack of TV rates, but the digital broadcasting will give them a possibility to broadcast at the separate channels.      

Ivan Adamchuk affirmed that either TRC Ekspres Inform or the NBM TV company will present the concept of the Pyaty (5^th) TV channel’s new version in the nearest future.  

From www.telekritika.ua