Gazprom Media mulls future options for NTV+

Gazprom Media, the media holding company of the Russian energy giant, is mulling splitting up pay TV operator NTV+, according to local reports.

According to business title Vedomosti, citing unnamed sources, Gazprom Media chairman Mikhail Lesin had commissioned his former deputy, Ruslan Terekbayev, to study options for the future of NTV+ together with consultancy group EY. Terekbayev left the company earlier this month before any action was taken on his plans. Lesin resigned in December, to be replaced by Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Terekbayev and EY proposed splitting the pay TV operator into three units, according to Vedomosti – an operator business, a sports production and distribution business and a unit dealing with production and distribution of other content. This would give Gazprom Media the option of selling the non-core operating business and developing content for third party groups, for example.

NTV+ is believed to have about 850,000 subscribers and was reported by Spark-Interfax to have turned over RUB9.39 billion last year with a net profit of RUB400 million.