This initial expansion of activity encompassed mostly the city of Moscow, but to a lesser extent also Leningrad, the Urals, Siberia and the Ukrainian SSR.
Updating the television in the Soviet Union, the release of its censorship by the Central Committee, began with the proclamation at the XXVII Congress of the new General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's new political course of the party in relation to the country.
The fundamental piece of media-specific federal legislation is the Law on Mass Media, which was passed on 27 December 1991 and took effect on 13 February 1992.
The system consisted of 3 highly elliptical Molniya satellites, with Moscow-based ground uplink facilities and about 20 downlink stations, located in cities and towns of remote regions of Siberia and the Far East.
By 1976 Soviet engineers developed a relatively simple and inexpensive system of satellite television (especially for Central and Northern Siberia).
In 1979 Soviet engineers developed the Moskva (or Moscow) system of broadcasting and delivering of TV signals via satellites.
TV signals from Moscow Global's satellites could be received in any country on the planet except Canada and the Northwest USA.
Cable operators began upgrading their networks to DVB-C and adding new services such as video on demand, catch-up-TV and others.
The distribution of the terrestrial channels is the task of the Unitary Enterprise Russian Satellite Communications Company, which has 11 satellites, and the Federal unitary enterprise "Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Network" serving 14,478 TV transmitters in Russia (90.9% of the total number).
TV and radio channels are broadcast through the terrestrial satellite communications complexes owned by the Russian Satellite Communications Company at teleports located in Medvezhy Ozera (Russian: Медвежьи озера), Vladimir and Dubna, which ensure the transmission of channels to all five time zones in Russia via the space vehicles of RTRN.
In December 2005, a project was launched to create a digital television network in the Republic of Mordovia, where the DVB-T standard will be utilised.
The project objective was to ensure for the population, the possibility of receiving a large (up to 10) number of TV channels and several radio stations in the stereo broadcasting mode and in the digital DVB-T standard.
This document was elaborated by the high-level Governmental Commission on Development of TV and Radio Broadcasting originally headed by Dmitry Medvedev in his capacity as first vice-chair of the government.
The main positive factor in the introduction of terrestrial TV broadcasting in the DVB-T standard, according to the opinion of market players, has been the approval of a TV broadcasting development framework in the Russian Federation for 2008–2015 (approved by resolution of the Government # 1700-p, dated 29 November 2007).
[10] The total investment in the transition of terrestrial TV from analogue to digital format is expected to be Euro 10 billion during the period 2008–2015.
[12] In September 2011 a governmental commission had approved the use of the DVB-T2 standard for the development of digital terrestrial TV in Russia, as proposed by the Ministry of Communications.
[16] The main objective of the programme was to provide the population of the Russian Federation with free-to-air multichannel digital TV and radio broadcasting.
Placing information materials in post offices, social protection centres, retail appliances and electronics stores.
Creating the Digital Switchover Task Force with representatives of the Russian government, regional authorities and all organizations involved.
Carrying out inspection of сommunity antenna TV systems for DTT broadcasting in apartment buildings and, if necessary, repairing and upgrading them.
Developing mechanisms and conditions for providing the population living outside the DTT coverage area with satellite equipment at a reduced price.
Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network staff tested equipment from the retail and informed viewers through the hotline about the best choices.
[44][45][46][47][48][49] Participation in the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation"[50] and new telecom services implementation are RTRN's main current objectives.
Full list of channels Weekly viewing shares, 24 – 30 June 2024:[58] Media related to Television of Russia at Wikimedia Commons