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Leonard Yanovsky first became involved with the Russian TV industry in 1992, after recognizing the opportunities opening up in his home country. Yanovsky was familiar with the TV business, having already started his own U.S.-based cable TV engineering company, Yanovsky Associates. At first, he provided purely religious programming from American Christian Television to Russia for free. Then in 1997, he, along with partners, started another company: Costa Mesa, California-based Intra Communications. In the beginning, Intra distributed telenovelas and dubbed programming. But starting in 2002, the company began producing its own shows. Its first miniseries, Time to Love, was sold to Channel One in Russia. Now it supplies miniseries, series, films and dubbing services to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

VideoAge sat down with this expert on the Russian TV industry to see what's in store for that region.

VAI: How has the Russian TV business changed since your company started in 1997?

LY: It has become the fourth largest TV market in Europe in terms of advertising revenue after England, France and Germany. Now--as in other territories all over the world -there is growth in cable TV channels, and an appearance of IPTV platforms. But the purchasing budget is still small, so the majority of distributors still want to get onto the free-to-air networks. The CIS countries with the largest TV markets aside from Russia are Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and all of those countries have appetites for Russian programs.

VAI: What opportunities are available to foreign distributors in Russia?

LY: Like any country, it's just too expensive for Russia to generate all of its own programming. So there is a need for quality foreign programming, specifically cartoons (since Russia doesn't produce many of its own), documentaries and movies.

VAI: Are foreign programs ever shown in primetime on free-to-air channels?

When Channel One started broadcasting Lost, they did it in primetime. It showed that a quality foreign series can succeed in primetime if it is dubbed.

VAI: Are most shows dubbed or subtitled?

LY: All foreign-language shows are dubbed, either through the cheaper and more popular route of voice-overs or [the more expensive] lip-synching.

VAI: Is Russian programming still censored?

LY: No. The TV channels--and no-longer the government--control their own programming. Perhaps, there may still be censorship in news, but not in fiction. Today, one doesn't have to send programs to the Kremlin for approval. Channels work under government guidelines that limit advertising during kids' programming, nudity and bad language. But Russia's restrictions are almost the same as Europe's, and are looser than in the U.S. [The Sopranos, for example, which was relegated to a pay-TV channel in the U.S, was shown late at night on a free-to-air channel in Russia].

VAI: Are farmats popular?

LY: Formats are much more popular than finished programs in Russia. Some of the smaller CIS Republics still prefer finished programs. In Russia, distributors must do more than just sell finished product. They need to establish themselves, build relationships with reliable production companies and channels, and be creative. It takes time. For example, Sony Pictures Television International bought production companies in Russia so that it could co-produce local versions of its own formats. NBC Universal was very successful with its Law & Order format (which airs on NTV) despite the fact that the original English version was never picked up at all. Other companies that have become involved with Russian formats are Endemol and Telefe.

VAI: What are some advantages to producing in Russia?

LY: Co-productions between CIS countries provide extra revenue that offsets production costs. As an example, Intra Communications is presently involved in the production of telenovelas that will simultaneously be aired in Russia and the Ukraine, and are available for additional Russian-speaking territories.

VAI: Are production costs increasing?

LY: Yes. Production studios are developing more programming, budgets are increasing and quality is improving. Foreign programming is a much less expensive option. But in Russia, local productions bring higher ratings.

VAI: What will the future of Russian TV look like?

It will continue to grow. Free-to-air channels will lose viewers as a result of cable. The next step will be IPTV and video-on-demand services. But now the two biggest obstacles when it comes to development of IPTV platforms are piracy issues and the high costs of setting up the platform. Competition is already very high. When I was in Russia this past summer I noticed that many new scripted series and TV movies were airing during what used to be a slow season. If that's the case in the summer, just imagine how the other seasons are going to be. Business will continue to grow. As a result, there will be more mergers and acquisitions between media companies, production companies, distribution companies and channels.

VAI: Finally, can you tell us a little bit about Intra Communications?

LY: We were one of the first U.S. companies to begin distribution and production in Russia. We buy shows from countries all over the world and from studios (including the majors) and distribute them to Russia and CIS countries. We also produce miniseries, TV movies and telenovelas in Russia in Russian-language, and perform voice-overs and dubbing of foreign programs.

VAI: Why did you start this business?

LY: We saw a demand for quality programming in Russia. We started in the 1990s with telenovelas because almost every TV channel across the CIS countries had a telenovela slot. It was a cheap way to fill up daytime hours. For us, it was easier to guarantee payment with telenovelas. If you sell a TV movie and your client never pays, there's nothing you can do, but with a 150-episode telenovela, you can supply the first 20 episodes, and if you don't get paid, stop supplying them.

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