2:10 pm: Board member quits in protest
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THE PLAYERS
NTV founder Vladimir GusinskyFormer director general of NTV Yevgeny KiselyovNew director general of NTV Boris JordanCNN media mogul Ted TurnerGazprom Media chief Alfred Kokh
- MEDIA-MOST URGES NTV TO RESUME NORMAL BROADCASTING
Moscow - Media-MOST, which is the main owner of NTV, urged NTV leadership to resume normal broadcasting today. As we have already reported, NTV is broadcasting only news programs and advertisements. Media-MOST thinks normal broadcasting may be restored in the event Gazprom-Media observes the proposed moratorium and does not interfere in the policy of NTV television. The moratorium was proposed by Media-MOST to Gazprom and Gazprom-Media yesterday. It stipulates that Gazprom makes no changes in the leadership and employees of NTV. In addition, the leadership of Media-MOST stressed that NTV is responsible to TV viewers for satisfying their interests.
- GAZPROM-MEDIA BOARD MEMBER QUITS OVER NTV SCANDAL
Moscow - A member of Gazprom-Media's board of directors Anatoly Blinov has resigned from his post, according to Gazeta. In his opinion, Gazprom Media's campaign against the incumbent NTV leadership has failed.
In an interview with Izvestia daily Anatoly Blinov said he believes the newly appointed NTV directors from Gazprom-Media might attempt to take over NTV. “At that moment (of seizure), it is quite likely, that NTV's transmission could be broken.”
- FALSE NEWS EDITION OF NTV PREPARED
Moscow - NTV started its news edition today 10 minutes earlier than usual, due to the threat to stop NTV's broadcast with a false NTV news edition. The false program was prepared through the night. NTV journalists got the information that the pseudo-news program would start at 6:00 a.m. Moscow time, so accordingly the journalists decided to start at 5:50 a.m. It is not known yet why that false program has not been broadcast.
NTV's site www.ntv.ru has got the film shot by a cameraman of the German ARD television company.
As NTV said, it would be very easy to distinguish the real news edition of the company from the fake. Natalia Zabuzova and Pyotr Marchenko will be the news hosts.
THE RUSSIA JOURNAL LINKS:
NTV General Director Yevgeny Kiselyov's profile and interview, published in the RJ earlier
Earlier RJ articles on NTV, Media-Most and Media in Russia
- All eyes on Putin’s next move in Gusinsky arrest
- When two fight, the third wins
- Fight for press freedom takes a summer holiday
- Media-MOST vows to fight ruling
- Foreign investors seen as making NTV less critical
- Even foreigners’ money won’t save NTV this time
- Media-MOST to sell NTV stake
- Katya's kitchen table
- Media moguls maneuver
Earlier Media Watch columns from The Russia Journal
- Double standards in television row
- Television as a political tool
- ‘Internal editor’ at work
- All eyes on Putin’s next move in Gusinsky arrest
- Gusinsky blasts Putin, warns of 'fascist state'
EARLIER TODAY
- STATION’S JOURNALISTS CONTINUE TAKEOVER PROTEST
Moscow - NTV journalists on Thursday continued to protest what they saw as an illegal takeover of their station. Staff held an overnight vigil at NTV headquarters, fearing Gazprom would impose a new management team by force. "What has happened to our TV station marks a point of no return for the whole country," said Marianna Maksimovskaya, a popular news anchor. "After this, we're going to slide back God knows how many years."
Staff said they refused to recognize Boris Jordan, the American financier Gazprom tapped to replace journalist Yevgeny Kiselyev as general director of NTV. "Jordan can come in here and spin in his chair for as long as he likes," said Viktor Shenderovich, presenter of a popular satirical show on NTV. "But no one's going to follow his orders."
- NTV JOURNALISTS KEEP VIGIL
Moscow - Journalists kept up a vigil on Thursday to block a hostile takeover of Russia's only nationwide independent television station, while Ted Turner rode to their rescue - and into a full-blown Moscow political storm.
Early on Thursday morning, NTV television showed pictures of police vans it said had gathered outside its studio, saying it feared they were there to keep its morning news off the air. Police could not be reached for comment.
THE EVENTS 
31 March, 2001, 20,000 attend press rallyNTV
on-air protestNTV journalists keep vigilGusinsky (l) & Kiselyov in happier times
- TED TURNER MAKES OFFER TO BUY 30% OF RUSSIA'S NTV CHANNEL
Moscow - Media mogul Ted Turner re-entered the struggle for Russian television channel NTV with an offer to buy 30% of the station. But to close the deal, he may have to work hard to win the support of NTV's biggest shareholder, the state-dominated gas monopoly OAO Gazprom.
Mr. Turner's offer, which would require an initial investment of less than $100 million surfaced one day after Gazprom took control of NTV's board after a long commercial dispute.
Mr. Turner in a statement said he had reached an agreement with NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky that would ensure NTV's future as a "free and independent" media company. Individuals familiar with the talks said that a consortium of foreign investors led by Mr. Turner aims to acquire about 30% of the company and to leave Mr. Gusinsky with about 20%. Gazprom would retain close to its current 46% stake in the company, while Capital Research & Management, a division of Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos., would retain its 4.5% stake.
No one shareholder would have majority control of NTV under the agreement. But Messrs. Turner and Gusinsky could attain voting control with the support of Capital Research & Management.
The deal appears to hinge on Gazprom agreeing to free up a 19% stake in NTV that it holds as collateral against loans.
- GAZPROM’S REFUSAL TO ACCEPT INVOLVEMENT OF GUSINSKY MAY HINDER DEAL
Moscow - Mr. Turner's representatives are scheduled to meet today with Gazprom's adviser, Deutsche Bank, to discuss the offer. Gazprom's media arm has said it would welcome foreign investment in NTV but appeared unwilling to see Mr. Gusinsky remain as a shareholder.
"Gazprom Media is willing to talk to a foreign investor about a controlling stake," said a spokesman for Gazprom Media chief Alfred Kokh. "But it has to be a consortium that does not have Gusinsky in it."
Gazprom maintains that its dispute with Mr. Gusinsky is commercial and says it hopes NTV's new board of directors will set the company's finances right and ensure debts to Gazprom are repaid.
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(sources: RJ, Reuters, AP, RBC)