CTC Media

History

CTC Media (till 2004 - StoryFirst Communications) was established by a U.S. entrepreneur Peter Gerwe in 1989 in Delaware in the United States. In 1991 co-founded Russian-American radio station Maximum. The Group launched broadcasting operations in 1991 with its own TV station in St. Petersburg. Channel Six of St. Petersburg started broadcasting in other regions in 1994.National TV channel CTC debuted in 1996, Russia’s first thematic channel Domashny was launched in 2005. In 2009, СTC Media began international satellite broadcasting in North America as CTC International. In June 2010, the launch of international broadcasting took place in Israel. In March 2011, CTC Media started international broadcasting in Germany, and later in May 2011, a number of agreements were signed to start broadcasting on two new platforms in North America. In October 2011, CTC International increased its footprint in North America and began broadcasting in the Baltic states. As of February 2012, the international version of CTC began broadcasting in Europe, as well as in a number of countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. CTC-International started broadcasting in Kyrgyzstan in April 2012, and launched in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan in May the same year. CTC International is available in Thailand since July 2012.The Everest Sales advertising agency was established in the autumn 2010 and is responsible for selling the advertising inventory of CTC, Domashny, Che and CTC Love, the Group’s Videomore.ru and Domashniy.ru internet portal. It also manages advertising sales in the Commonwealth of Independent States for Channel 31 group of companies in Kazakhstan.In December 2010, Videomore was launched as the first Social TV Network in Russia. The site combines all the advantages of a professional video portal with those of a social network. Since 2012, it also offers content of Channel Five and Ren. In October 2011, CTC Media introduced the Domashniy portal as an online extension of Domashny TV channel, which is aimed at a female audience. In October 2013, Peretz International (international version of Peretz channel) began broadcasting in cable networks in Belarus. In January 2014, launch took place in Kyrgyzstan.In spring 2014, CTC Media launched the new channel CTC Love on cable and satellite platforms, and signed a distribution deal with Hulu. CTC Media was acquired by the private, Nycosia, Cyprus-based firm Telcrest Invesments Limited in the spring of 2016.