Russians know little about new public television
MOSCOW. August 2 (Interfax) - Most Russians know either nothing or very little about a new public TV channel, and are unwilling to pay for it.
A recent poll held by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) shows that 42% of Russians on the whole know or at least have heard something about the Public Television (OTV), compared to 50% three months ago, while 56% first heard about it during the poll.
The poll was conducted in 100 communities in 43 Russian regions on July 28-29.
The OTV is supposed to be provided at no charge, be free of advertising and exist on voluntary donations. But only 14% of the respondents said that they were ready to donate money for it, while 72% of the respondents said that they weren't.
Muscovites (87%) and residents of cities with populations of over one million (82%) are among the OTV's potential donors.
At the same time, more than one-third of those polled (35%) think that Russia needs OTV, while 12% disagree and 53% have no opinion yet.
Opponents of the idea think that Russia has enough TV channels. They do not believe that OTV will be an independent television or that it will speak truth or discuss things one would like to hear discussed.
As for Anatoly Lysenko, who was recently appointed OTV's general director, 73% of Russians have no idea who he is, 12% of the respondents welcomed his appointment and 2% criticized it.
Earlier, Lysenko told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta that OTV should begin broadcasting as of 2013 and that the Zvezda TV Channel may serve as the basis for it. OTV will enter the first multiplex - a free set of TV channels that is supposed to be available across the whole of Russia by 2015.