2×2 (TV channel)


2x2 is a Russian television channel. Founded in 1989, it was the first commercial TV station in the Soviet Union. Since then, the channel predominantly broadcasts foreign animated TV series, including anime and Adult Swim shows.

History

Trial period (July — November 1989)

2x2 was established by order of the USSR State Radio and Television as a structural unit within the General Directorate of Programs. The state initially had four people: Sergey Alexeev, Olga Smirnova, Oleg Schoor and Olga Lukasik . In August 1989, Sergey Lavrov also joined the team as an administrator. The channel broadcast its first pilot in July 1989, under the name "Commercial Channel". Broadcasting was conducted during the daytime due to the fact that the state "Moscow" was broadcast in the evening on the same frequency. Length esters, called "Commercial Television Channel," were not fixed. Music videos that were broadcast included, "All She Wants Is" by Duran Duran, "Always on My Mind," by the group Pet Shop Boys, "Pendant que les champs brûlent," by the group Niagara, "Everywhere," by Fleetwood Mac, "Around My Heart," by singer Sandra, "The Soldier," by Thomas Anders, "Mon mec à moi," by Patricia Kaas, as well as fragments of the concert "Space in Moscow." At this time, the channel's staff was limited to a small room "No. 115" behind a bar. to ask three and two hardware and essential installation, APB 8, and AWSM 6-1.

1989—1997

The name "2x2" was coined by the team around the end of July 1989, at the same time, Sergey Moiseyev developed the General style of the channel and the original version of the logo, which still exists with minor changes. On November 1, 1989, 2x2 TV channel began broadcasting under its own name. On the Moscow program channel of the Central television station, later-MTK. In the evening, the TV channel "MTK" was broadcast.
At the initial stage of operation, the TV channel did not have money for the production and purchase of programs, so the broadcast network was filled with materials obtained through the personal connections and capabilities of its managers. The broadcast featured half-hour or more ad blocks, an ad clip from Video international, modern Soviet and foreign music videos and cartoons. later, the TV series "Captain Power and the soldiers of the future"was shown and repeated many times. The series "I Spy" was also broadcast. In addition," 2x2 " also showed a selection of domestic music videos, starting with the clip of Oleg Beskrovny "A knock in the heart". Among other videos shown by the channel were clips of the Alla Pugacheva song theater from the Video international company, " Accountant "by the Combination group," Arab gold "by the Forgotten conversation group," Street of love "and" Ksenia "by Alena Apina. In the program "Afisha" with DJ Ale-Alena, which also broadcast video clips of Russian artists such as Bogdan Titomir and Oleg Gazmanov. From the first day of broadcast have been broadcast by Sergei Selenourea — "Batalla!".
The lack of a rigid broadcast grid and the format of six-time repeats of the same block of entertainment programs and advertising, which were the result of limited financial opportunities and a small number of programs at the disposal of "2x2", largely played a role in the growth of its popularity. The channel broadcast in the format of so-called "background television", when viewing which the viewer could not pay attention to the picture shown on the screen, or even start watching the channel at any moment, without specifically catching a particular TV program. TV sets in offices, shops, cafes, and other public places and institutions were often tuned to "2x2". At that time, "2x2" was the only domestic TV channel that often showed music videos, which strongly distinguished it from the General background of several existing Soviet TV channels. The channel was very popular among Soviet schoolchildren, who most often, while waiting for a 20-minute show of music videos, viewed ad blocks that sometimes lasted for 40 minutes without a break. According to a survey of 586 high school students in Moscow schools conducted at the end of 1991, the channel became the leader in popularity: it was watched by 34.16 % of respondents.
From June 1990 to May 31, 1992, the channel aired programs from the British Super Channel. One of these programs was Blue Night. Their share in the broadcast network almost immediately became impressive — one-or two-hour selections of video clips were broadcast, thematic programs, movies. Some educational programs were also broadcast, including those produced by the Discovery Channel, including "After 2000".
Since mid-1991, the anime "macron 1"began to be shown.
Since July 2, 1992, instead of the daytime show of feature films of Central television, the channel began to carry out reruns of series going to MTK, the first of which was the TV series "no One but you".
Starting around 1992, the channel began to broadcast a program about heavy and rock music "Green Corridor", produced by the production Studio" BIZ Enterprises " entrepreneur Boris Zosimov. In the future, the music policy of the channel almost completely came under the control of this person, as a result of which in 1993 the channel's management signed a contract with the owners of the TV channel "MTV Europe" to retransmit some of the channel's programs. at first, clips from the European broadcast of MTV were broadcast during the day between series and other programs. At first, recordings of MTV broadcasts were broadcast quite often, including VJ blocks, often even without translation. Among the programs were issues of the animated series "Beavis and Butthead". Soon, paid clips of Russian artists, such as Vlad Stashevsky and Yevgeny Kemerovo, began to occupy more and more MTV clips. By the summer of 1994, there was a daily hour-long selection of clips from MTV, which soon disappeared as well. Music videos, but no longer from MTV, were occasionally broadcast in the future,still in between series. Despite the fact that some of Zosimov's ideas did not justify themselves, he continued to occupy a part of the air, creating a TV company-producer "BIZ-TV", within which a number of music programs were released and almost all the music component of the channel was formed. Also in the framework of this project, the program "Forgotten names", dedicated to the Soviet stage, was aired, later moved to the TV-6 channel, where it was aired as part of the program "Disk-channel" as "Spinning disks". The hosts of the program were Kirill Nemolyaev and Nikolay Semashko.
In 1993, "2x2" first appeared on the satellite, which resulted in the retransmission of its broadcasts by some regional partners. Prior to its launch on satellite, the channel broadcast only in Moscow and the region, and through its own transmitters in Tver and Ryazan, with real-time signal delivery via ground-based RRL.
In 1993–1994, "2x2" also regularly showed commercials of the organization "Greenpeace", and therefore on the air of this channel you could often see Joanna Stingray and Boris Grebenshchikov. In 1993, "2x2" newscasts appeared. In 1994, the main character of the compilation of clips was Philip Kirkorov. During the days of mourning, a video was broadcast for the song "my Country", which was included in Kirkorov's album "I am not Raphael". A half-hour weekly broadcast of AUM Shinrikyo was also broadcast.
From 1992 to 1994, the channel broadcast BBC, ITN and Worldnet news in the morning and evening, with one of the morning editions always broadcast without translation. The issues were translated into Russian by Peter Kartsev, a VHS translator who also worked for TV-6.
In 1994, the channel had problems with the Australian TV series "chances", which gradually moved from the usual melodrama to a more explicit erotic genre.
In 1994–1995, the channel reached a peak of popularity due to a diverse broadcast network, as well as programs such as "Dandy — the New reality" and animated series such as "teenage mutant ninja Turtles".
In 1995, according to opinion polls, Channel One was significantly inferior to channel 2x2 in daytime.
Later, in 1996, for the first time in Russia began showing the anime "sailor Moon", as well as telenovelas of Mexican origin "no One but you", "My second mother" and "Crossroads", series" Thunder in Paradise"," Highlander "and" Sledgehammer","lassie".
Broadcasting of 2x2 on 3 TVC ended at midnight on the night of June 8 to 9, 1997 due to the expiration of license number 15 of June 8, 1992, issued for 5 years. 7:00 GMT on 9 June, the channel lost its place on the "third button" new TV channels "TV Center" and "Muscovy", moving in the UHF range, 51 TVK, where from 7:00 to 11:00 and from 19:00 to 3:00 on weekdays and from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 19:00 to 3:00 at weekends was saying "Muz-TV". On 51 TVC " 2x2 " broadcast from 11 to 19 hours-on weekdays and from 14 to 19 hours-on weekends, with extremely low-quality content, and the predominance of "Shop on the couch".
On August 14, 1997, the channel stopped broadcasting to Moscow and the region on 51 TV channels. For a long time after the closure of the old 2x2, the company "2x2-Telemarket" existed, which was the exclusive owner of the rights to a number of films, documentaries, animated series and television series broadcast by the channel until 1997, on the territory of Russia.

2002—2007

On February 27, 2002, 2x2 TV channel won a competition for 43 TV channels in Moscow with the concept of "Shop on the sofa". Initially, the launch of the channel was scheduled for November 11, 2002, but it was postponed, as it turned out that the Moscow regional center, which distributes the signal of Central TV channels, will be ready to start providing its services to the 2x2 channel only from January 2003. Then it turned out that the operation of the 2x2 transmitter on 43 TCEs is influenced by radio-electronic means of one of the parts of the Ministry of defense of the Russian Federation. The launch of 2x2 was postponed to January 3, 2003, but it also did not take place.
In April 2003, test tests were conducted on 44 TCEs, which showed that it was suitable for broadcasting, but it was launched a few years later for the broadcasting of the St. Petersburg "Fifth channel" in Moscow. A month later, in may, members of an interagency working group made up of representatives of the Ministry of defense, the Ministry of communications and RTRS, came to the conclusion that the 2x2 channel will be allocated 60 TCEs for broadcasting. On July 7, 2003, the channel began broadcasting on 60 TV channels in Moscow in an experimental mode. Since September 1 of the same year, the channel has been fully broadcast.
Since the first days of broadcasting "revived" 2x2, most of the TV channel's airtime was made up of programs of the popular TV channel about fashion "Fashion TV" and clips of domestic performers produced by the production Studio "Difficult Childhood". The name of the program was named after a popular song by Vladimir Markin "Lilac fog". Legally, the new 2x2 was not related to the old TV channel, which was closed in 1997 — its founder was ZAO "TV channel 2x2-Moscow".
The new 2x2 defined its concept as "television for the active consumer", a kind of TV guide to the market of goods and services. According to the prescribed concept, 50 % of the broadcasting of the " new " channel 2x2 was occupied by the retransmission of the programs of the Fashion TV channel. Programs of our own production were intended for a youth audience. The channel was aimed at an audience of up to 45 years old with an income above $300, who pay great attention to their lifestyle. In accordance with the concept, the TV channel refused in principle to introduce information, social, socio-political or criminal programs into its broadcast network.
In 2004, the TV channel "Style TV", concluded a long-term cooperation agreement with the TV channel 2x2. In the same year, the channel's frequency was used to rebroadcast the programs of its network partner, Style TV, with the logo " 2x2 ".
By 2005–2006, there was a critical time on the channel: the TV store almost completely replaced the rest of the programs from the channel's broadcast grid. Basically, in the broadcast network of the then 2x2, there were presentations of products from the TV Club TV store. The broadcast of the TV store was divided into thematic categories: from kitchen goods to fitness equipment. On Friday and Saturday nights, the channel broadcast feature films and series. Music videos were also broadcast on the broadcast network.
In February 2006, 2x2 TV channel was acquired by ProfMedia holding. At the same time, 2x2 began broadcasting on the Rambler frequency of the TV Network. On October 3, 2006, the new owners presented an updated concept for broadcasting 2x2 TV channel. In turn, in early 2007, the company "TV Club", which in the spring of 2005 rented the entire network of the channel, decided to launch its TV channel on the basis of 2x2. The channel was first seen only by residents of Moscow and the Moscow region thanks to the AKADO cable network, and soon the channel became available throughout Russia.

Since 2007

Since March 19, 2007, the 2x2 channel has broadcast fragments of animated series, after which it showed the time of airing, as well as a promo with the slogan " Turn off the brain, turn on 2x2!". At the bottom was the inscription "channel demo". Periodically, it was changed to the number of days remaining before the launch of the new channel.
On April 1, 2007, 2x2 was finally rebranded, and the channel switched to a new broadcast format. As a result, 2x2 underwent major changes: a change of management and staff followed; the logo and graphic design were changed. The channel began to position itself as "the first Russian animation channel for adults". The cartoons shown are translated or dubbed into Russian. Some of them up to 2x2 have already been shown on other Russian channels, for example, "the Simpsons", "Futurama", "family Guy", "South Park", "Beavis and Butthead", "Star fight to the death". For the first few months, animated 2x2 was presented in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and the Moscow region, and its expansion into the regions began in June. Broadcasting of the channel in most other regions of Russia was started on the site of the closed "ProfMedia" and exhausted educational channel "Rambler Teleset".
By the end of 2007, animation 2x2 began to achieve its first success — during the first 2 months of autumn, it managed to increase its audience and outstrip the number of youth audience of such major channels as TNT, MTV Russia and channel One. Later, 2x2 managed to attract an age group that traditionally does not watch TV — young men and those who have long been disillusioned with TV.
In 2008, the legal entity ZAO TV channel 2x2-Moscow was renamed ZAO TV and radio Company 2x2 ". In 2010, it was re — registered with TV and Radio company 2x2 LLC.
In early 2009, the 2x2 office moved to 9 Varshavskoe shosse, p. 1. Before moving there was a textile factory.
On November 30, 2010, it was announced that the channel began airing WWE RAW on February 5, 2011. The two-year contract was announced at wwe.com. wwe Management also expressed a positive opinion about the return of wwe programs on Russian television.
On September 14, 2012, 2x2 began satellite broadcasting with shifts of "+2 MSK" and "+5 MSK".
In February 2014, following the acquisition of 100% of ProfMedia's shares by Gazprom-media holding, the channel along with Friday!"and TV-3 became part of Gazprom-media. A little more than a year later, in March 2015, after a small reorganization of the holding, the channel became part of the Gazprom-media entertainment Television sub-holding, its office and the offices of TNT, TV-3 and Friday! moved to the building of the business center "Diamond Hall "".
On January 1, 2016, the channel ceded some of its broadcast frequencies to TNT4 . However, the channel's share has not changed significantly, and the coverage has also remained Federal and national, since in most major cities it was only retransmitted on cable networks.
Since 2017, episodes of the popular YouTube series "Meet Bob" from the YouTube channel of the same name have been broadcast on the channel as inter-programs.
Since April 10, 2018, the channel's website has an online broadcast, which differs from the broadcast version in the absence of a progress bar and a clock; it is conducted for the Moscow time zone.
On November 1, 2019, the service "2x2 Media" was launched, where you can watch content in FULL HD and uncensored on the channel's website for a subscription. There will also be projects from Adult Swim that will not be aired.
Since March 19, 2020, the "Bazooka video Store" program uses the 2x2 logo of the 2003-2007 model.

Controversies and criticism

As the country's largest adult-oriented animation channel, 2×2 is prone to protest among various conservative and religious groups, and occasionally with authorities. Since 'animation' as a genre was traditionally viewed as exclusively children's media in Russia, 2×2 struggles with continually highlighting that its programs are not recommended for children.
In February 2008, the Russian Media Culture Protection Department, a regulatory body for TV in Russia, issued warnings about Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff, claiming that the shows promote "violence and brutality." This "violence and brutality" was claimed to harm the psychic health, moral development and social morality of children, all of this being a violation of license agreement. The department warned 2×2, which broadcasts the shows, to remove them in order to avoid legal issues. The owners of 2×2 voiced their disagreement, but reluctantly fulfilled the request.
Later that year, activists of the Russian Pentecostalist Church criticized 2×2 for airing South Park and The Simpsons. Their appeal to close 2×2 was rejected by the Russian media officials. On September 24, 2008 the channel's license was extended for an additional 5 years.
In July 2009, 2×2 cut a scene from the episode "Free Willzyx" of South Park, because it depicted Vladimir Putin as "a greedy and desperate leader," prompting "criticism and furious discussion on Russia blogs".