SES and the OTT service Kartina TV have entered into a partnership to deliver Russian channels to Europe on the Astra 19.2 degrees East satellite.
Quoting Kartina TVs CEO Andrei Reich, Cableman reports that the project has the working title Kartina Satellite. Although the brand will use the word Kartina, the commercial name will be Kartina Sat.
He added that the service will distribute around 32 international versions of Russian channels, six of which will be in HD, with the start date being April 1.
Significantly, the main Russian national channels and online movie service Start have already agreed to participate, with ivi, Russias most popular OTT platform, expected to follow.
The service will be available on a subscription basis throughout Europe, with the monthly fee starting at 4.99.
The target audience will be the 850,000 households in Europe that already watch Russian channels via cable or satellite, with the aim being to secure at least 200,000 in the first year of operation.
