Although cable networks are rapidly developing in Russia today, the country is lagging behind the West in everything related to this form television. Mikhail Silin, Komkor-TV General Director, said, "you can count [toll TV] operators on the fingers of one hand" in Russia. Mr Silin said the three leading operators had only 500,000 subscribers, while their annual turnover was $50 million. This is a small figure compared to the pay TV market in the West.
Many issues ranging from technological to legislative ones are hampering the process. However, "TV operators' migration" to the digital format, as Mr Silin put it, is absolutely necessary for Russian operators, as well as subscribers who will thereby get access to a variety of information services, the Internet and e-mail, as well as TV banks and TV shops.
However, "the leading operators have built their networks and investments have been largely made in the sphere, said Ayuna Badmayeva, Marketing Director at Kosmos-TV. Improving living standards offer optimistic prospects for the development of subscription television in the country. "Television cannot develop further at the state budget's expense," said Svyatoslav Bunyayev, a spokesman for Rossiiskiye Teleradioseti (Russian Television and Radio Networks). "Everybody has to pay, although reasonably and voluntarily, for quality television. It should be recalled that people once paid monthly fees for television services in the Soviet Union."
