Tricolor TV chief reportedly leaving this month

Alexei Kholodov

Alexei Kholodov, the CEO of Russian pay TV provider Tricolor TV, is to leave the company, according to local reports.

Vedomosti reported that Kholodov will leave the company at the end of this month, citing unnamed sources.

According to Vedomosti, Kholodov’s departure, which took market-watchers by surprise, comes amid disagreements with Tricolor TV owner Andrei Tkachenko.

The paper reported that Tricolor TV, Russia’s largest pay TV operator, was looking at several possible candidates to replace the CEO.

Kholodov’s departure comes as the Russian pay TV market experiences an ongoing slowdown, with only 250,000 pay TV homes added in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to TelecomDaily.

Tricolor TV remained the largest operator with 12.28 million homes.

TMT Consulting meanwhile reported in February that growth in the market remained driven by the big five Russian operators, which collectively saw their base rise by 1.5 million in the course of the year. Rostelecom and ER-Telecom led the expansion, while Tricolor TV and Orion Express experienced lower growth rates, according to TMT Consulting.