OTR channel celebrates its 10th anniversary – MK

As with many channels, OTR air consists of news, series, movies and programs on a variety of topics. OTR projects, according to the tasks of the channel, must be relevant and meet the news agenda. This is how the educational program “Big Country” and the information channel “Reflection” are obtained.

The Rectorate program, run by MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, probably contains everything you need to know about higher education right now. The program “Club of Chief Editors” under the leadership of the editor-in-chief of “MK” Pavel Gusev has become a platform for expert assessments from the most influential journalists.

The Very Personal program with Viktor Loshak is about people, their views, life principles and rules. In “The Hopscotch Game” with Leonid Mlechin, the achievements of the largest film directors of our country are analyzed in the most detailed way. And Go to the Doctor with Maryana Lysenko helps viewers take care of their health and lead a healthy lifestyle. Experienced and knowledgeable doctors conduct a dialogue with the audience, analyze patient complaints and give recommendations, as well as talk about the prevention of the most common diseases and debunk popular near-medical myths.

This year, a serial project about the rivers of Russia will be continued. After a fascinating documentary about the Volga and the Volga cities, a fifteen-episode series “Northern Sea Route” will be presented. All these projects appeared in the last year and a half under the leadership of General Director Vitaly Nikitich Ignatenko.

For the tenth anniversary of the channel, the Anatoly Lysenko Prize in the field of regional television journalism has been approved, which will be awarded for the best author’s works (television projects) aired on OTR in the cycle of the Colleagues program to editors and television journalists of regional studios.

On the eve of an important date in the life of OTR “MK” met with the first deputy general director of the channel Farit Alyautdinov and discussed good news, the subtleties of live broadcast, as well as movies and series.

Ten years is still quite a young age for a TV channel, nevertheless, there are probably many reasons for pride …

– First of all, it is the love and attention of the audience. And, of course, work with the regions. Seventy-five regional television studios operate on our channel’s tie-ins. This is a large volume and a great demand. Broadcasting to big cities is, of course, great, but I would like the coverage to be complete and include all the settlements of our country. And thanks to us, regional channels have this opportunity.

– I can assume that, being in Moscow, it is sometimes difficult to understand the needs of viewers who live far from the capital. Or are they not so different?

– Very often, what worries people in Moscow and St. Petersburg is also of interest to residents of small towns. Recently, we have all been chasing the so-called bright news and have completely forgotten that there is good news. They were even feared, although we all need good news. We have a very difficult rhythm of life, especially in big cities. Everything is according to the classics: it is not always possible to get off the tram and see if it is going in the right direction. There are enough simple, kind, human events in the regions. They were not noticed for a long time, but now positive news is at the forefront. The demand for them is growing.

“Many here will notice that since the pandemic there has been less and less positive news…

“But at the same time, a lot of positive things were said about our doctors, about the volunteers who went to hospitals. This is the rebirth of good news. And kindness is contagious.

— When OTR was just getting ready to launch, some tasks were probably set, assuming that this channel would be significantly different from both state and commercial ones. How well are these tasks performed?

— Anatoly Grigoryevich Lysenko did most of what OTR became. He set such an interesting development vector that we still have a long way to go along it. There are many things we haven’t fully covered yet. After all, public television is a bridge between society and government.

— Not an easy task, especially for Russia…

– A good question: are we at the very tail end of democratic reforms? Personally, I think not. In my opinion, we are moving along the vector of development of real democracy. The main mistake of the nineties was that the will was confused with freedom. Freedom has limitations, the will has none, including in terms of conscience. If we are looking for will, then we will return to the nineties; if we need freedom, then it will be different.

– In your opinion, can television inspire people to more active civic actions? And does television face such a task?

Let me give you some of our programs as an example. In the Father’s House program, we talk about successful people who today may not live in their small homeland, but help these towns in every possible way. They build schools, churches, roads. There are many such people, and we show them. I am sure that those who thought to help their small homeland, but have not yet done so, having seen our program, will decide to take such a step. It is easier to walk in the flow of good than to move alone. Therefore, we cultivate such transmissions, creating these flows of goodness. The viewer, judging by the responses, likes it. Today we are probably the last television, which for the most part broadcasts live. We can write, call and speak. Today it is very important.

– Live broadcast is always a considerable risk, especially if you give the audience the opportunity to participate in it …

– For ten years, we have studied many viewers of the channel very well, we already recognize some of them by their voices. There are many people with higher education among our audience, and they set a certain bar for communication. These people know a lot, read a lot and are well versed in various issues, they cannot be satisfied with sweet speeches. Therefore, if we are talking about private entrepreneurship, we pay attention not only to successful businesses, but also to bankruptcy cases. You need to speak honestly with the viewer, then the feedback will turn out.

– Channels like to look after each other, compare ratings, launch similar projects at the same time. And it seems that other channels against the backdrop of OTP offer much more technically complex programs. Do you feel like you are on different planets?

“People always want something different. We do not read only Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. And people want to watch different things. Now there are a lot of films for the eyes. They surprise you with tricks, although there is often no depth of thought in this. So it is on television. Sometimes you watch a program, you don’t understand how it works at all, and you are imbued with great respect for the skill of your colleagues. By and large, a person has no more than two hours a day on TV. And we all fight for these two hours. Those who want to be surprised will definitely find such programs for themselves. If you want to talk to someone, then you will choose another channel, and if you listen to music, then the third. And this is good. Different desires of the viewer give rise to different proposals. It’s not about technology. The cinema did not kill the theater, and the Internet clearly cannot cope with television. Everyone somehow gets along.

– Recently, serials have been given exceptional importance, and each channel is trying to develop its own tactics in this matter. What is the OTR serial policy?

– At the moment, budgets do not allow us to shoot our own series, and we buy what has already found its audience. Genres can be very different, but we are primarily interested in series that fit the development vector of public television. Plots around constant murders or the fact that the police are corrupt, and all the women have served time in prison and after their release want to take revenge on their husbands, are not suitable for us. Everything else, if it is possible to acquire it, does not remain without our attention. And yet, in my opinion, we have one of the best film screenings today. We show classics, festival films, and rare European films. Now we are going to add a short film as well. There are a lot of interesting works in this genre, and there are almost no venues for such films. We found the time.

– Probably, it is not so easy, on the one hand, to follow the expectations of the public, but at the same time keep at a certain distance what is directly related to pop culture?

— In my opinion, we managed to find our approach. Recently, a new project was opened, which is called the “Land of Poets”. Simple and famous people of various professions read their favorite poems in the frame. There was a moment when poetry almost disappeared from our lives, and now it has returned. Launching the program, we understood from the very beginning that it would be popular. We now have tens of thousands of letters from people who want to read poems. From children to academics.

Are you interested in various celebrities and the gossip related to them?

– This is not our niche. We know well how ordinary Russians live. And they do not live by gossip. In my opinion, it is not necessary to humiliate with wealth. The glossy world, despite the bright picture, is essentially dusk. Let’s not confuse advertising with real life.