Broadcasting in the Soviet Union

Through the development of satellites and SECAM, controlled broadcasting was initialized as the main frequency for distributing information and entertainment.

Under the control of the Soviet Union, censorship and limitation on information was filtered for the citizens to ensure the common culture and socialist ideals were maintained.

During this time of political propaganda and war, controlling the large and spread out population meant censorship and lock downs on the freedom of public speaking.

In order for fundamental changes in behavior and massive transformation of the landscape to occur, the population had to be engaged and mobilized to adopt the ideology (and goals and vision) of the leadership as their own"[7] Broadcasting owned by the governing body ensured the right information and propaganda would be distributed in order to keep that vision intact.

Generally there were five channels (called "programmes" in the typical European fashion then) under the banner of the unified brand of Soviet Central Television.

Soap operas and TV series of original cast were rare until the last decade; a notable example is Seventeen Moments of Spring which quickly became a cult film.

[10] It involved the exploits of Stierlitz, a Soviet super-spy in Nazi Germany, who inspired many jokes (see Russian humour).

During this period, the state used programs, films, and animations to redraw its citizens to the Soviet culture and away from the western ideas that were brought home during the war.

Short animations were introduced that negatively portrayed western culture and reiterated the ideas of old Russia, such as The Stranger's Voice, which aired in 1949.

With the initial release of filming worldwide, exciting American movies had almost no competition, which citizens of all classes in the Soviet State flocked into.

Taking the Chechen-Ingush ASSR as an example, one would see that there was a lot of flexibility in the Soviet radio and television system.

Depending on the political status of an administrative division, the Company/Committee would broadcast the regional programming in either Russian or the local language.

Editions of the Third Programme (radio): Composite editions of the All-Union, Moscow, and Fourth Programmes (TV): The Soviet Union set up the great space race that would lead to international technological, political, cultural, and scientific exploration.

Since the 1970s, Russia has implemented the newer geostationary orbit "Horizont" satellites utilized by the Russian Space Television system.

Operated by the State Enterprise "Kosmicheskaya Svyaz" there was constant maintenance of satellites as well as revision, censorship, and management performed through this main facility.

Under the rule of Emperor Nikolai II, the first broadcasting system began in 1904, and evolved into TASS in 1925.

[18] TASS still exists today, transformed into the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS).

It occupies a Joseph Stalin-era building in Moscow, characterised by a bas-relief sculpture above the main entrance.