Russia’s CTC builds channel for ‘real men’

Russia’s CTC Media is due to launch its new Che Channel on November 12, replacing humour and reality TV network Peretz with a channel aimed at men “who love their country”.

Announcing the launch, CTC said that Che will be a reflection of the lifestyle, interests and core values of a “real man”, with ‘Che’ evoking words and names like “man, honour, entertainment [and] Chekhov” in the Russian language.

Programming will be focused on men’s interests and hobbies, “manly occupations”, sports, popular science shows, feature films and Russian and international TV series. The channel will target a 25-49 year-old male audience, with a particular focus on 30-40 year-olds.

“It will be the channel about men whose work is recognised and valued, who command respect, who are trying to make good use of their time, and who love their country and family. It will be the channel for men who are kind because they are strong,” said CTC Media in a statement.

“Women will find in Che a valuable source of information about the interests of their partners, and an opportunity to peek into their minds.”

The launch comes after CTC Media said last October that it was evaluating a “potential transformation” of its Peretz network, making it a “more cutting edge and dynamic channel, with a focus on edgy action content”. This came after CTC said its Russian networks were affected by overall audience fragmentation and increased competition from news broadcasts in Q3 2014.

A month later CTC appointed the chief executive of UTV, Ruben Oganesyan, as the head of its Peretz Channel. He took up his post on January 1, 2015 and will now oversee the Che Channal.

In a statement today, CTC Media CEO Yuliana Slascheva described the replacement of Peretz with a “completely different channel” as a “critical milestone” in the strategy of the company.

“In a very short timeframe and, importantly, within our existing budget, we are going to launch a brand new channel that will be even more attractive for its target audience and will bring new opportunities to advertisers, ultimately bringing additional profits to the company,” said Slascheva.