Russian broadcaster steps to the West

Media advertising in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Romania will experience triple digit growth over the next three years. That may not exactly be the reason a Russian broadcaster wants to acquire the aging Soviet-era transmission facility in Transdniestra.

By most accounts the old Soviet transmitter and antenna farm along the River Dniester is (was) huge. For decades its shortwave and medium wave frequencies poured out the Soviet line. Since the fall of the Soviet Union the facility fell into disrepair, a snow storm in 2000 taking down some of the towers and buildings. Currently, it broadcasts Voice of Russia (VOR) programs to Romania.

A small item in the Russian daily Kommersant last week (October 1) noted that the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRS), the State-operated broadcast facility company, made an offer to buy it all from the mostly unrecognized government of Transdniestria.

For those geographically challenged Transdniestra is a strip, arguably, of Moldova along the River Dniester, bordering Ukraine. It’s arguable because Russian-speaking Transdniestra declared itself independent from Moldova, Romanian-speaking, in 1990 and followed up with a little war, settled by the Russians. Nobody but Russia recognized the independence, perhaps because Moldova isn’t high on the international diplomacy agenda… unless you live in Romania, or Ukraine or Russia, which keeps about 1000 troops hanging around to guard weapons stockpiles.

With EU Member Romania on one side and Ukraine on the other, both looking ‘west’, Moldova clearly finds the entire Transdniestra issue a challenge. Moldova’s telecom regulator said any ‘sale’ of the Malak facility would be illegal.

RTRS is a State operated broadcast facilities operator, not unlike other legacy European transmitter/tower companies. Maybe it has more State control than most. Politics aside, RTRS is one of the world’s biggest buyers and developers of broadcast transmission gear. Acquiring an old facility, making the upgrade, suggested at about €3 million, and selling the services back to government broadcasters is standard operating practice. And broadcast targets in western Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Belarus could be very attractive. - Michael Hedges September 11, 2007

Keywords:media in Eastern Europe

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