Russia's largest media holding, RosBusinessConsulting, launched the very channel its audience awaited. "Our television is like connecting vessels," said the head of the Novosty Kultury (Culture News) program on the Culture TV channel, Vladislav Flyarkovsky. "If a certain TV channel launches an interesting program with a large rating, other TV channels just copy it."

This is the key reason viewers are less and less satisfied with programs broadcast on federal TV channels. People are tired of "twins."

RBC TV builds its popularity thanks to mounting interest in economic and financial topics. RBC top managers have proved themselves right. "We know our target audience very well. But we want our project to meet the vital interests of the largest number of viewers," RBC General Director Yury Rovensky said.

The channel's scope of broadcasting aims to address this interest. Some viewers need on-line news blocks, while others seek special-interest output with comments by experts. Others want to become better-educated and acquaint themselves with economic processes. They need more programs with an educational focus.

The main driver influencing a decision to watch RBC TV news is that it has content of interest, as viewers report, not according to whether they are economics professionals or not. As head of the budget and tax committee of the Russian State Duma Mikhail Zadornov said: "My friends and relatives, dealing neither with the economy nor politics, recently started speaking of RBC TV among TV channels they watch regularly. I was surprised because I believed RBC TV was fully a business TV channel watched by business people and those interested in business information. The audience of this TV channel is wider."

RBC TV has become a federal TV channel taking into account general and more specific interest in it. Though it focuses on the economy, it highlights other aspects of life in society such as politics, culture and sports in an interesting and unprejudiced way. RBC TV journalists successfully find a broad spread of approaches new for Russian audiences - tackling topics as they would embark on a business project. The tactic has its advantages.

"If I have to comment on how politics is highlighted on RBC TV, I think the channel has been solving this problem more successfully than others," head of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky said. "RBC TV demonstrates a serious and unbiased approach and highlights the substance of events. Nowadays, to talk about business seriously means to talk seriously about politics also. Federal TV channels formalize this problem and try to highlight business and politics separately. Of course, this approach is wrong. Authorities and business are stuck with each other and one should not conceal this fact."

News blocks are aired every 30 minutes on RBC TV. The Markets program is broadcast every 40 minutes. Daily live broadcasts number up to 70. Russian TV channels have never worked this way before. Thanks to an adjustable TV grid, directors can reschedule their programs so they do not prevent the channel highlighting breaking events. If something outstanding happens, especially if this event may have an impact on the stock market, the TV grid is revised and breaking news broadcast as soon as it happens, as when Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested. Since RBC has unique equipment such as remote cameras placed in a dozen investment companies and banks, analysts' comments can be broadcast live from their offices.

The channel's philosophy is reflected in the clearest way by the news blocks. "We have intentionally left out social issues," RBC TV Editor-in-Chief Mikhail Ermolayev said. "You can scream about a water-pipe breach at grandma's for as long as you like. This won't help either her or the country. It's time to take a hammer and nails and start building. Our number one goal is to make people build a new economy. RBC TV is a positive TV channel."

The audience values the approach. "I watch RBC TV every day because nowadays only this channel airs business news, Troika Dialog president Pyotr Teplukhin said. "For me, it's important that this channel broadcasts news in a timely way. Moreover, RBC TV has successfully separated news from news commentary. This is a wholesome thing. Some audiences need timely provision of information. For others, speculation on the issues is more important."

Senior RBC managers pledge the channel will have yet more interest soon. "Now, we are somewhat falling short of other channels taking into account video feed. Sometimes we call ourselves radio with pictures," editor-in-chief Mikhail Ermolayev said. "Bloomberg and CNBS may also be 'blamed' for this. But we plan to extend and change some of the existing output. For example, the Real Estate program, where an extended format appeared about six months ago, consists not only of an expert report on problems in the sector but also an abundant video feed like market maps, diagrams and the Design sections, fully visually-oriented. This is a real TV channel. We are trying to provide other programs with more pictures as well. But some programs need no such video feed, like the Capital program, which tells us about financial instruments. Such programs will remain the same and some of them will even be cut."

What broadcaster can do without its stars? RBC channel chiefs didn't seek famous names for anchors, even though there are some recognizable faces. For example, viewers of the TNS TV channel are acquainted with Anna Volokhina. Elena Nefyodova is recognized as an anchor on the Business Russia program. RBC TV prefers to create its own stars. Even a bank clerk can become a TV celebrity. Together with TV professionals, experts from the financial markets have joined RBC TV's team alongside traders and analysts working for banks and financial companies before. Who better to tell us about what's afoot in the Russian economy and what we face tomorrow? They needed only the speaking skills, imparted by professional articulation teachers before appearing in the studio.

These owe their name to Svetlana Makarova, training thousands of journalists for the past 30 years. "I'm very interested in working with people dealing with business and politics," Makarova said. "Many of my pupils have successfully found their individuality and carved out brilliant careers. Those who produce the Markets program, for instance, were professionals in this sector, but they had certain problems with speech. Now, they're well-known TV presenters and I'm proud to hear them speaking on TV." Like Oleg Bogdanov, a Markets program presenter never seen on TV before. But when he took the TV presenter's chair and began talking, it was clear he was born to be an anchor. Or, for example, Igor Vladimirsky. He worked for the BBC in the past but had no experience in Russian journalism. These days, viewers appreciate his free and humorous way of presenting a program.

It might be claimed that interesting business projects are sure to be successful. Success, though, always hangs on a prudent business plan. Our business television has contributed more than $5.6m - that's 12 percent - to the media holding's overall profit. In the first quarter of 2004, RBC TV accounted for $3.5 million of overall profit, an amount targeted to make $16m by the end of the year.

Channel managers could have delivered shining success placing stakes not on the viewers, but on the advertisers. Alongside, the State Duma moots a TV tax, as proposed by the deputy chairman of its information policy committee Boris Reznik. Creating a public TV channel would entail a subscriber fee of about RUR16 per person, about USD0.5. (Ira, would this money go to the TV channel? If so, we should say so because this is what the statement seems to imply) At the same time, the business community has shown that a free, independent and high-quality TV channel can exist in Russia. The main question is how to attract advertisers. Data from the Association of Russian Communications Agencies (AKAR) rates the Russian market for media advertising at between $670 million and $700 million (up between 25 percent and 30 percent) for the first quarter of 2004. The television sector of the advertising market showed the most determined growth at 35 percent while other segments increased between 20 percent and 25 percent.

Given the trend, the channel's future looks bright, as RBC TV's owners await a further inflow of advertising revenue. Alongside, the State Duma voted for several amendments to the Russian tax code this summer, canceling the five percent advertising tax. "We are inspired by the ongoing changes," chairman of the board of directors of OAO RBC Information Systems German Kaplun said. "The advertising tax was an important psychological factor hampering increased spending on promoting goods and services in our country. We hope cancellation of this tax will contribute to further growth of the advertising business of RBC."