Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Telecomunications

This may happen within a few weeks.

LTV's Channel 3 (LTV3) will be similar to the Latvian-language LTV1, as the television's head Ivars Belte told LETA. The programs for the new channel would be created by Russian-speaking authors and producers who know very well what the interests and problems of Russian-speakers in Latvia are.

The channel could also be active on social networks to communicate with the younger generation.

Given that Latvia and Estonia have practically the same opinion about the new initiative, active cooperation is under way with Estonian experts.

According to Belte, Latvia and Estonia could develop a joint brand for the new channel, as well as jointly work on the channel's image and values. The new channels in Latvia and Estonia will have the same design, which will enable the countries to share the design costs.

Latvia and Estonia will also participate in joint procurement tenders and in generating content for the new channels, for instance, children's broadcasts, said Belte.

Commenting on LTV's estimates of the cost of the new channel, Belte said that specific amounts would only be presented to the public after the channel's concept is approved by the Electronic Mass Media Council. After that, a political decision will be taken whether to allot funding to the channel, and in what amount. LTV's estimates are similar to those of Estonia, Belte added.

He emphasized nevertheless that LTV will want no part in the creation of a new TV channel if it is offered less money than necessary. LTV has a set of quality standards and a vision that the television would not want to compromise.

The new TV channel's concept could be submitted to the Electronic Mass Media Council in the coming weeks, said Belte, yet he declined to comment how long the development of the new channel could take. There has been much criticism about the project and LTV is waiting for politicians to offer their proposals as to what should be taken into consideration during the work on the concept, but no such proposals have been received thus far.

As reported, on March 19 the Electronic Mass Media Council approved establishment of an LTV channel in Russian.

LTV3 will supplement LTV1 and LTV7, and it is scheduled to debut in mid-2016.

The channel's content will be presented in the Russian language and it will be broadcast in the entire territory of Latvia. It was also reported that there will be specific content ("regional window") for the residents of Latgale Province.