NTV

NTV: translation

In Cyrillic, the channel’s name is HTB, whereby TB stands fortelevision, while the letter H may stand for the wordnovoie, meaning “new,” as well as for the wordnezavisimoie, meaning “independent.” The television channel was a pioneer of post-Soviet independent televisionmedia; however, it was later taken over by state-ownedGazprom, causing a major controversy in Russia and abroad.The channel was founded in 1993 byVladimir Gusinsky, a Russianoligarch, who managed to hire Russia’s best newsjournalistsand news anchors, including Leonid Parfenov, Mikhail Osokin, Tatyana Mitkova, and others. The channel set extremely high professional standards, giving live coverage and critical analysis of events as well as displaying innovative studio and program design. The channel was home to many successful programs, includingSegodnia(Today), a prime-time news show,Itogi(Summary), a weekly commentary program, andKukly(Puppets), a satirical program. The channel was also popular for its creative entertainment programs. By the end of the millennium, NTV’s audience was over 100 million, covering about 70 percent of the federation. However, since the Gazprom takeover, the station’s reputation has diminished as has the quality of its programming, which is now entertainment-centric. The fate of the network is seen as a barometer of independent media inVladimirPutin’s Russia. NTV is also available in the other countries of theCommonwealth of Independent States.