Litsa - October 12, 2004

The first Russian business television channel, RBC TV, had a great celebration of its first anniversary. A gala reception was arranged in the Gostinny Dvor hall. RBC TV's founders were receiving congratulations from thousands of guests, among which were company heads, ministers, politicians, public figures, and Olympic champions. The atmosphere was rather informal. Jazz, a sophisticated dinner, presentations of fancy cars, jewelry and new clothing collections were there as traditional features of any VIP event. Only a tiger stood out, as she was walking around the hall on a leash all evening long.

"We wanted to gather together all our friends, - General Director of RBC Information Systems Yury Rovensky said at the opening of the celebration. - I mean those, who are regular guests of RBC TV as newsmakers and experts, all those without whom our programs could hardly be imagined."

The guests were wondering around the main city hall which is divided into two sections. From one part of the hall with Champaign, snacks and stands with photos that told about RBC TV's hard work, they would head for tables with misted decanters and delicacies. Some two hundred tables were served in front of a stage, where RBC TV's partners and friends would come to say their congratulations. Soloists of Helikon-Opera, the Bolshoi Theater and Romeo and Juliet musical amused the guests. Diamonds glittered on models (Buryat sculptor Dashi Namdakov presented his jewelry collection). Patrik Helman (a new men's wear collection) and Valentin Yudashkin reigned on the stage. The Russian king of fashion appeared on stage with a model all wrapped in video tape. The performance was from time to time interrupted by brief interviews with the guests. They spoke about RBC TV's programs that they like the best. "My day begins with the program Morning for a Business Person, - General Director of PIO GLOBAL Asset Management Andrey Uspensky shared with the guests. - It helps me to get down to work, feel the drive and optimism about the new working day." Vladislav Flyarkovsky seems to be the only one who found a gap in RBC TV's programming: "I think, - the head of the Cultural News program (the Kultura television channel) said, - it would be logical if a business TV channel had a program about business culture. It could be a nice and interesting program with many historical episodes." Like businessmen, politicians felt happy about RBC TV too. According to the leader of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, "talking about the way RBC TV covers political news, I think the new television channel has been doing it a lot better than the others. RBC TV is always serious, non-bias and objective. In our days, talking seriously about business means talking seriously about politics." VIPs had something good to say about the business television channel as well. Head of the Presidential Expert Department Arkady Dvorkovich, Senior Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Tatyana Paramonova, Chairman of the Board of Directors of YUKOS Viktor Gerashchenko, Head of AFK Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov, leader of the Rodina (Motherland) faction in the Russian State Duma Dmitry Rogozin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods David Yakobashvili, President of Transneft Semyon Vainshtok, and Senior Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow government Vladimir Resin said they fell in love with RBC TV. Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Alexander Zhukov had his say too, which is a habit for the TV world. Unfortunately, he couldn't attend the event, but he sent a video recording of his speech.

Litsa - October 12, 2004.