MINSK, 11 February (BelTA) – Chairman of the National State Television and Radio Company Ivan Eismont has revealed details of a new news channel that will be established in Belarus. This matter was discussed at the meeting of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko with heads of the country's biggest mass media outlets on 11 February, BelTA has learned.
“I see it as a project of all state-run mass media outlets. It will be a traditional television channel specializing in news and analytics. We can compare it probably to Euronews, maybe, BBC, if such a comparison is appropriate, after all, we have not created this channel yet. This channel will be on air from 7.00 till 24.00. It will be based at the National State Television and Radio Company, the Television News Agency, but will be run separately. It will be in sync with the expanded internet unit of the National State Television and Radio Company that will undergo dramatic reforms soon. All our proposals were upheld. It is also absolutely possible that another online news portal will see the light of the day in Belarus. This will be a symbiosis of television and the internet,” Ivan Eismont said.
In his words, all television channels and other types of mass media, including printed press, are invited to get involved in the project. “This will be a big many-hour platform for all, including bloggers and analysts. Naturally, it will be meant for newscasts. We will be happy to see everyone there,” Ivan Eismont underlined.
The new channel is to be registered this year. “We will embark on this project today, so that the new channel will start broadcasting as soon as possible,” he said.
When asked by a BelTA reporter what role the Belarus 1 TV channel will have after the new channel comes on the air, Ivan Eismont noted that the channel needs to increase the share of high-quality entertainment content. The work on this front is already underway. “In the recent 1-1.5 years we have launched a series of landmark entertainment projects. More projects are hot on the heels, like a big national project X Factor to look for new talents. We have already got a huge feedback from the young generation,” Ivan Eismont said.
Summing it up, the Belarus 1 TV channel will have a lot of entertainment programs, landmark social and political projects. The bulk of content related to politics, economy and news will be relocated to the new channel.
