The business television channel breaks onto the Moscow market.On September 1, RBC TV invited guests to celebrate its anniversary at Gostiny Dvor, opening the new business year by the season's major high society party. Autumn, it appeared, was very fast to take over the reigns, and the first day in September was rainy and chilly. Maybe, nature was just in a bad mood, or it was just an unequivocal sign that vacation time was over.. Like in the Old Russian Calendar before Peter the Great changed it, September is once more considered to be the first month of the business year, rightfully regarded as the beginning of a new business season. For a third year running , this event has been commemorated at Gostiny Dvor by Moscow's top socialites. Three years ago, RBC TV was launched on September 1. "Our business television is happy to make this gift, the holiday, to its friends and partners," RBC's General Director Yury Rovensky announced. "RBC TV has reached its viewership and is struggling to assert its interests," he added.

RBC TV currently ranks second among Russian TV channels rated on the average viewing time. Turning three, it boasted an audience of 7 million viewers. The round-the-clock business channel offers almost forty programs featuring the most outstanding events and dealing with the most vital economic and political issues. The News programs are scheduled every half hour, and Markets every forty minutes. Never before has a Russian TV channel operated with such promptness and intensity.

Around two thousand guests were mustered to extend their congratulations to RBC TV. Gostiny Dvor's huge hall there was virtually packed to the brim. Among the ceremony's guests there could be seen high profile business people, top managers, worldwide known entrepreneurs, mass media, scientists and people of arts and culture and naturally statesmen - ministries and deputies.

The celebrations were attended by First Deputy Chairperson of the Central Bank of Russia Tatyana Paramonova; Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Alexander Yakovenko; Deputy Head of the Federal Nature Management Supervision Service Oleg Mitvol; Tver region Governor Dmitry Zelenin; head of the Federal Agency for Managing Special Economic Zones Yury Zhdanov; member of the State Duma committee for credit organizations and financial markets Vladimir Tarachev; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann David Yakobashvili; Vice President of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Engelsberg; Presidential Envoy to the Constitutional Court of Russia Mikhail Barshchevsky; member of the Public Chamber, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, lawyer Pavel Astakhov; designers Vyacheslav Zaytsev and Yelena Yarmak ; TV presenter Nikolai Drozdov; Vice President of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Sergei Kapitsa and other influential political, business and public figures. Those who failed to come wired their congratulations. Telegrams were received from Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov and Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. While it was raining heavily outside, the city's atrium was engulfed in a merry carnival dressed up and disguised in the most incredible way. Gostiny Dvor's entire premises were decorated to resemble a fall harvest festival and Indian summer, the time for harvesting and reaping the fruit of the past year. Clowns dressed up as characters from the ancient Italian commedia dell'Arte theatre wearing masks with huge noses and floaty dresses were striding about on great stilts. The vast hall of the Gostiny Dvor complex was halved into two parts. In the first one guests were chatting strolling amid tables laden with snacks, an ice bar, Cinzano Asti fountains and cigar stands with genuine Havana Hoyo de Monterrey. Waiting for the party to start, the guests were sharing their impressions and congratulating the channel on its success. Designer Vyacheslav Zaytsev was speculating: "Today it will be true to say that RBC TV is a heavenly gift and to get in touch with it is always rewarding." The jokes the ceremony's hosts made were a certain success. And the channel's faces, presenters Maria Stroyeva and Oleg Bogdanov, announced news from distant future: in particular they said that by September 1, 2016 the Big Troika, Russia's largest mobile communications provider, will have completed a friendly takeover of Vodafone and the associated re-branding. "Now, its striped eggs may be seen in the most out-of-way places in Europe," the news read. "It is great that there is such a channel," TV presenter Pyotr Fadeyev said. "The channel is now fully developed although there are a few things left to work on." However, not all the guests were as optimistic as the RBC TV presenters about the forthcoming business season. Smoking a cigar, Konstantin Borovoy was issuing apocalyptic forecasts "Oil prices have turned down, and we have no economy in place, so we may come to face a dramatic crisis." In Borovoy's estimation, by the New Year oil will not cost more than $55 a barrel. Director of the Center for Political Technologies Igor Bunich promised some breath-taking changes in the country's political life: "We will see many plots and schemes, which will have an impact on our country's party system. The future of Russian liberal parties is yet uncertain. There is a risk for them to be ousted from the political arena for a long time." But here the guests were invited to dinner, and a gala performance was opened by the legendary Sergei Mazayev and VIP JAZZ ORCHESTRA of Ivanov brothers. Moreover, guests received presents from the Bolshoi Theatre stars and participants of the Narodny Artist (People's Artist) project. Yelena Yarmak presented her new collection. The party closed with a magnificent firework display.