RTR was founded on July 14, 1990. On May 13, 1991, the first broadcast of Vesti news program signified the launch of RTR TV channel, which was rebranded as Rossiya 1 in 2001. In early 1993, the company acquired the status of a national broadcaster. In 2003 it entered the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (АBU) membership as an associate member.
Today the RTR occupies the top position at the national broadcasting market, and is one of the leading producers of content. The holding comprises:
– four national TV channels: Rossiya 1, Rossiya K (Culture), 24/7 news channel Russia 24, and Karusel, a children’s channel, co-produced with Channel One;
– federal radio channels: Radio Rossiyi, Mayak (Lighthouse), Kultura (Culture), Vesti FM (News), and Yunost (Youth);
The volume of broadcasting makes 25 thousand hours a year for television and over 44 thousand hours a year for radio. RTR holding comprises 80 regional TV and radio networks and 14 local branches broadcasting in all regions of the country in over 50 languages, spoken by various ethnic groups in Russia. The volume of broadcasting in national languages makes 5410.7 hours a year on Rossiya 1 TV channel and 12978.5 hours a year on radio.
RTR-Planeta channel, an international version of Rossiya 1, is watched by 30 mln Russian-speaking audience in the CIS countries, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia.
The RTR’s 14 foreign news offices and bureaus are located in Belgium, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Germany, Egypt, Israel, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, the USA and Japan.
Since November 2020, the internet platform Smotrim.ru (We are watching) has been operating, where users can watch and listen to all the programs of RTR TV and radio channels in real time: news, talk shows, feature films, documentaries, series premieres and children’s programs.