Ukrainian World News – Vitaliy Kropchaev’s channel
Ukrainian World News starts approximately on January 22. His top manager is the former editor-in-chief of the 112 channel, writes Media Detector.
A new nationwide information channel Ukrainian World News is being launched in Ukraine. The launch is tentatively scheduled for January 22, 2023. The information of Detector Media sources was confirmed by the technical director of the future TV channel Dmitry Skidan (formerly technical director channel “112 Ukraine”, who worked in this post until the channel was closed in 2021).
“It will depend on many factors, but the tentative launch date is January 22,” he said.
Dmitry Skidan confirmedthat the owner and investor of the channel is businessman Vitaly Kropachev. In 2022, he bought a license for digital broadcasting 4 channels, as well as a company Era production. Shortly after the sale of the license, Channel 4’s property was arrested, and then transferred to Goskino, because the owner of the channel, Alexei Kovalev, went over to the side of Russia. Subsequently Kovalev was killed.
Olga Girzheva will be the General Producer of Ukrainian World News. Since 2018, Olga Girzheva has been the editor-in-chief of the NewsOne TV channel (including when the channel was bought by Viktor Medvedchuk’s associate Taras Kozak), and before that she worked with Savik Shuster for nine years. She was also the editor-in-chief of the political talk shows The Other Ukraine and The People Against on the ZIK TV channel. Media Detector hopes to get Olga Girzheva’s comments on Ukrainian World News.
Information about the involvement in the project of the former head of Medvedchuk’s channels, Yegor Benkendorf, Dmitry Skidan objected:
“Egor Benkendorf is not related now. If it appears in the future, we will inform about it”
Previously, Nestor Shufrich, who formally owned Mediaholding Novosti, told “Media Detector” that Yegor Benkendorf dealt with the affairs of Medvedchuk’s channels until their final closure in March 2022.
Dmitry Skidan also objected that the start manager of many Ukrainian information channels would be related to the future channel Alexey Semenov and former general producer “112 Ukraine” Sergey Logunov.
Dmitry Skidan did not name other members of the team.
“The core team is already there – about a hundred people,” he said. – The team will employ people from the channel “112”, who worked there in its best times. No one will argue that this channel, from the moment it was launched for sale to Medvedchuk, that is, until 2017, was the channel that laid the foundations of the modern news format in Ukraine. It is logical that we want to invite specialists through this channel.”
Dmitry Skidan did not answer the clarifying question of who will conduct the broadcasts. A source of Detector Media, close to the project, claims that Medvedchuk’s leading channels will not work for Ukrainian World News, and the project management is trying to distance itself as much as possible from sanctioned pro-Russian channels.
According to Dmitry Skidan, the channel does not plan to broadcast the joint United News telethon.
“We will do the same, but without participating in the general marathon,” he said.
Olga Girzheva also confirmed the lack of intentions to broadcast the general marathon, saying that she was waiting for a final decision on this matter (whom she did not specify).
Recall decision On March 18, the National Security and Defense Council “On the implementation of a unified information policy under martial law” decided that all information TV channels with a general Ukrainian license should broadcast a common telethon. It is precisely because of the failure to comply with this requirement that the direct channel, Espresso and Channel 5 turned off digital broadcast in the T2 network.
The studio of the future channel is located in Kyiv near the Nyvky metro station. According to a source from Detector Media, the VisionHouse company, which previously built 112, NewsOne, ZIK, Direct Channel, Nash and other information channels, is involved in the development of the channel. Detector Media turned to the head of VisionHouse Nikolai Zaluzny for a comment, but has not yet received a response.
“VisionHouse helps us, but we do most of the work ourselves,” said Dmitry Skidan. – Now the task is to build a channel with a minimum content and an adequate budget. So now we are building like this. He refuted the information of the Detector Media source that some of the equipment for the new project belonged to Medvedchuk’s channels in the past. “There is no technical or legal possibility to use the equipment of the Medvedchuk channels now. I can say that this is definitely not true.”, — said Dmitry Skidan. Recall that the property of the UkrLive and First Independent channels, according to Nestor Shufrich, was confiscated by the Kyiv military administration in March 2022.
Media Detector hopes to receive comments from Vitaly Kropachev and more detailed comments from Olga Girzheva.
Recall that Vitaly Kropachev, the owner of gas, coal, machine-building and other businesses, back in 2019 bought the Tak TV channel from Gleb Golovchenko, co-owner of the College of Press and Television. This channel has a satellite license, valid since 2019, issued to Tak TV Center Plus LLC. In the same year, Kropachev, together with Nosikov, tried (unsuccessfully) to reanimate the TVi channel together with the Polish partners Millstone and Co, headed by a top manager of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Robert Kwiatkowski. On October 6, 2022, the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting reissued the license for Channel 4, which was bought by Kropachev, with the Tak TV brand.
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