New movie channel for Russia

A new Russian movie channel, Kino TV, has launched in trial mode on ER-Telecom’s Dom.ru TV service, reaching about 500,000 subscribers at launch.

The new channel, part of the Cronos Media Group, is backed by former Tricolor TV boss Pavel Basov and has reportedly set a target of reaching four million homes by the end of this year.

The channel, which will be distributed by Signal Media, has rights to about 2,000 hours of content, according to local reports. Kino TV airs a range of US, European, Russian and Asian alternative movies, as well as providing coverage of film festivals, behind-the-scenes documentaries and film criticism.