The FINANCIAL — “The losses of Cable TV in Georgia range from between 12,000 to 20,000 users (15-25%), in total 80,000 since August 2008,” Guram Beruashvili, Chairman of the Union-Cable Television of Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“Cable TV rates in Georgia have increased four fold. If in 2004 the full cover of Cable TV was 25% of the total population, in 2008 it has reached 80%,” TV MR GE, Licensee of AGB Media Research reports.
Ayety TV, one of the largest Cable TV networks in Georgia, had planned to calculate the number of losses by the end of August. Today Executive Director of the company Aleko Ochigava says that they have not seen any loss of customers because of the ban of Russian channels.
“We have 40,000 regular customers in total. But the number changes every month. Over 300-400 people refused to use our service for different reasons. And then about 700 switched to our network,” Ochigava stated.
“Many of the Russian channel’s erstwhile customers have now switched to alternative channels. About 1,000 satellite dishes are assembled per month. This stands for the number of people who have cancelled their agreement with Cable TV. There will be another big wave in December. This will be the people who could not afford satellite dishes previously because of the high price, but have collected enough cash to install it over Christmas and the New Year,” Beruashvili said.
Russian Television International (RTVI) was cut off after it aired Ekho Moskvy’s interview with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the conflict in South Ossetia and the future of the relationship between Russia and Georgia. In the interview, Lavrov supported the Russian incursion into Georgia, and called for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to step down.
RTVI is a New York-based independent Russian-language broadcaster that broadcasts via satellite; its programmes in Georgia are transmitted by local cable companies, which is about 25. The station was accessible in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and in the cities of Poti, Batumi and Telavi.
Georgian authorities have blocked Russian news channels Rossiya, Channel One, NTV, TV KULTURA and RTVI.
According to TV MR GE, Licensee of AGB Media Research, the rate of Russian channels in October had dropped 0.5 percent in comparison with July. In July the rate of Russian channels was 1.5% in 24 hours and in October 1.0%.
Popular Russian channels ORT (Russian Public Broadcaster) and NTV are still banned in Georgia.
“70% of our customers prefer to buy a package with Russian channels,” Arkadi Stenchenkov, Director of Satellite, one of the leading companies offering satellites in Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“The demand on satellites was increased by 10% soon after the ban of Russian channels during and after the Russo-Georgian war.”
Satellite channels are divided into open and commercial packages. In the open format you don’t need to pay an additional fee. Prices of channels received from open format start from GEL 250 and coded – GEL 700. Because of the difference in prices the demand for an open package is higher,” Stenchenkov says.
As sources of TV MR GE report, the highest rating of a Georgian TV company is Rustavi 2, with 4.8%. It is followed by TV Company Imedi with 3.9% and Russian Channels combined -1%. As for other foreign channels they get 0.5% combined. There is no concrete rating for each company.
Another Satellite and Cable TV provider is Global TV, the first cellular digital TV Company in the Caucasus. Global TV offers about 70 channels. The prices of packages are GEL 5, 10, 15 and 20. The advantage of Global TV is the difference of prices according to the number of channels. Installation of Russian digital TV NTV+ costs GEL 700. The package price is from USD 31 to 89 per month.
Subscribers of Global TV include the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, his administration, Ministries, all budgetary organizations, TBC Bank, HSBC, Cartu bank, People’s Bank and other brands including Panasonic, Sony, Rakeen, Hyundai and others.
“The biggest mistake was switching off Global TV. If it had happened in Azerbaijan, the working monopoly in that country would not have allowed it to be switched off. Here there is big commercial interest. When I come to the market I have my rights. I am paying money for this.”
While some Cable TV providers are waiting for anti-Georgia hysteria to calm down before restoring broadcasting Russian channels, Ayety TV, which covers 20% of the Georgian Cable market, with around 40,000 subscribers, received a letter from Moscow informing them of the termination of their contract.
“Some Russian companies which are not on air have informed us that they are terminating their contracts with Ayety,” Nana Namoradze, Programme Director of Ayety TV, the leading Cable TV provider in Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“Of course we will satisfy their demands,” Namoradze said.
Complaints about the interruption of Russian channels have been broadly posted on the popular website Forum.ge. Some users wrote that the channels replacing the banned Russian ones are not as interesting.
Beruashvili says that the leading Georgian channels including Rustavi 2 and Imedi are not broadcasting their programmes via satellite.
“There is no TV Company with the appropriate format for international broadcasting. During the war BBC and CNN were broadcasting direct from Georgia. Now the world economic crisis has become so important, that it has eclipsed any news on Georgia. It’s important to create an international channel with the correct format, which will satisfy the demands of our Diaspora abroad and the international community as well. We are not the winners of the informational war. We have lost it. And this situation will continue till we have a strong international TV channel,” Beruashvili added.
Stenchenkov says that the citizens of Georgia must be allowed to choose for themselves what to watch on TV. “I can receive Russian channels at my home, but our family never watches them. The opposite in fact, during the war we were only watching Georgian informational channels. The main contingent of those demanding Russian channels is mostly made up of housewives who watch serials on those channels. What’s worse is that Georgian citizens abroad are left without their native channels, and the population here is left without choice.”
Stenchenkov says, “The ban of Russian entertainment channels was widely criticized by local customers.”
“They banned Russian channels but what can you offer to your viewers?” Stenchenkov raises the question.
“What kind of programmes can we watch? Are there any entertainment TV channels in Georgia? Most people spent a maximum of three hours in front of the TV per day. 30 minutes is taken up by informational news and what else is there? What should our children watch? I believe Georgian channels should give us the opportunity of entertainment, and relaxation. Customers’ interest is not focused only on politics,” Stenchenkov says.
“The popularity of foreign channels in Georgia is divided according to different thematics. Russian ORT had very high ratings before the August war. Besides just local and international news they were offering a lot of entertainment programmes. ORT was covering a wide segment of the Georgian audience,” Beruashvili says.
Nana Namoradze, Ayety TV, also speaks about the increased ratings of entertainment channels in Georgia.
“Hallmark, TV1000, Discovery and Animal planet are all very popular with the Georgian population. During the August war people preferred to watch these channels instead of political news ones,” Namoradze stated.
“A very interesting proposal has been offered by INTER PLUS NEWS, the Ukrainian TV Company. The idea is to receive the Ukrainian channel which directly avoids transmitting via Russian satellite,” Namoradze says.
Most international channels are transmitted by Russian satellite.
“Unfortunately we are linked with Moscow as we are considered a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),” Namoradze explains.
“Though Russia can’t block the broadcasting of international channels in Georgia,” Namoradze says.
Namoradze says that the list of channels is not included in a standard contract signed by a Georgian customer. So that allows them to replace banned channels with others without an additional agreement with the customer.
“We have a fixed number of channels in our user’s agreement. This number has not changed. We still offer 53 channels to our customers, just as we did before the war. Some Russian channels have been replaced by Ukrainian ones though. There are a number of people in Georgia who understands this language,” Aleko Ochigava, Executive Director of Ayety TV, told The FINANCIAL.
“No one can tell you what number of clients took your service purely for NTV and ORT. There are conditions in our contracts of course. It’s a big loss for such commercial companies as Global TV, Ayety and others though. The number of Ukrainians in Georgia is 2%. Of course we won’t cater to such a small number. Maybe after 20 years there will be a new generation who will be able to understand and ready for US and English TV, but not yet,” Stenchenkov said.
As Ochigava, Ayety TV, said “Satellite dishes have some disadvantages. First of all they need space. You can’t install it in blocks of flats.”
Guram Beruashvili says “Cable TV channels here are less developed compared to in other post Soviet countries. The first reason is that during the last 15-20 years we did not have a good supply of electricity. Technical problems and a lack of qualified staff also contributed. This year we were able to send only one person to Ukraine for special training.”
Written By Madona Gasanova
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