CTC (or STS, stands for Russian: Сеть Телевизионных Станций, Seť Televizionnyh Stancij, lit. 'Network of television stations' (NTS)) is a commercial television station based in Moscow, Russia. It belongs to the CTC Media company. The company is owned by National media group (Russia) and VTB Bank (Russia).[2]
History
In 1994, Channel Six Petersburg (owned by then-current STS Media StoryFirst Communications) began expanded outside St. Petersburg. Some local stations began rebroadcast that station: AMTV (Moscow), Zenit (Oryol), TSM Channel 10 (Novosibirisk, have been rebroadcast since the launch in 1991 but disaffiliated in 1995).
In December 1996, AMTV went into financial crisis, most of founders had left. It later joins StoryFirst Communications (at that time owned some regional TV in Russia). AMTV later joins those stations, leading to creating STS. STS was launched on 1 December 1996 on UHF channel 27 in Moscow.[3]
In 2002, Alexander Rodnyansky became General Director of the CTC. During the period of his leadership the ratings of the channel showed a quick and significant increase. 2006 - the best year in the history of STS. Then the average share of the channel's audience reached the highest level - 10.4% (audience "Russia, all viewers over four years").[4]
December 21, 2009 - start broadcasting international version of the channel - "CTC International".[5]
February 1, 2019 - CTC switched to a 16:9 broadcast format.[6] November 2019 - the HD version of the TV channel started broadcasting.[7]
Today STS broadcasts a mix between Russian productions and international programming of interest to its target audience, viewers aged 10–45,[8] especially younger audiences.
Approximately 100 million people are within STS's signal reach. In 2019, STS achieved an average audience share in its target demographic of 9.45%. It ranks as the sixth most watched nationwide broadcaster in Russia overall.[9] STS network reaches approximately 96% of urban households.[10]
Among the most successful shows to have aired on the channel:
comedy show - Good Jokes ("Хорошие шутки"), 6 frames ("6 кадров"), Thank God You're Here ("Слава Богу, ты пришел!"), You give the youth! ("Даёшь молодёжь!"), Ural Dumplings ("Уральские пельмени")[24]
entertainment show - Fort Boyard ("Форт Боярд"),[25]Super Ninja ("Суперниндзя")[26]
infotainment - Galileo ("Галилео"), Movies in Details ("Кино в деталях"), Stories in Details ("Истории в деталях"), Infomania ("Инфомания")
children's quiz show - The Cleverest ("Самый умный")
style - What Not to Wear ("Снимите это немедленно"), Rogov. Studio 24 ("Рогов. Студия 24")
Since the 2010s, STS has been producing its own animated series: Kid-E-Cats ("Три кота"), The Princesses ("Царевны"), Lex and Plu. Space Taxi Drivers ("Лекс и Плу. Космические таксисты") and others.[28][29]