How much and whom the state pays for content for information marathons and the state channel.

On February 24, some Ukrainian TV channels immediately began to work in the mode of a joint marathon to promptly inform viewers about the situation with the russian invasion. On February 25, “1+1,” “STB/ICTV,” “Inter,” and “Rada” were already working in the “United News” mode. On February 26, “Ukraine”/ “Ukraine 24” and Suspilne joined them.

Today, the joint marathon is broadcast on national private, state and public TV channels. It is created by the media groups “1+1,” “Inter,” StarLightMedia, “We-Ukraine,” the parliamentary TV channel “Rada” and Suspilne.

On March 18, a joint Russian-language marathon “FreeDom” was launched, organized by the media groups “StarLightMedia,” “Inter,” “1+1,” and “Ukraine” on the basis of the UATV multimedia international broadcasting platform. The task of the “FreeDom” marathon is to give the opportunity to learn the truth about the Ukrainian-russian war to “Russian-speaking viewers from all over the world.”

At the initial stage of “United News,” commercial media groups produced their parts of the marathon at their own expense, but when the opportunity arose, they asked for compensation from the state. In mid-2022, the state began to provide it, purchasing relevant services through Prozorro. Of course, when the advertising market recovers slowly, public money can become a vital source of income for commercial TV channels. However, we are talking about very significant costs — at least half a billion hryvnias for 2022. For 2023, almost UAH 2 bln was budgeted for the production of TV content.

 

The DOZORRO project of Transparency International Ukraine calculated how much was spent on different parts of marathons in 2022, and what has already been purchased for 2023. And what is the cost of production of some programs for the state channel “Dom.”  

United News

Kinokit LLC: more than UAH 172 mln — 2022, UAH 120 million — 2023

A day before the start of the large-scale invasion of russia, the Parliamentary TV channel “Rada” signed 5 contracts with LLC “Kinokit” for UAH 180 mln for the production of various television programs. The company won the art competition, so, the contracts were concluded according to the negotiation procedure. Kinokit LLC was supposed to develop:

But, since the format of “United News” did not contribute to the creation of diverse programs, the amount under contracts with Kinokit LLC was reduced to UAH 39.6 mln.

At the same time, according to Spending, Kinokit LLC received a total of UAH 147 mln from “Rada.” UAH 107.7 mln was paid under a contract that we could not find in Prozorro. Presumably, it has not been published. Procuring entities had this opportunity in the first months of the full-scale war. However, the certificates under which the payments were made indicate that these are funds for the creation of television programs “United News#UArazom.”

Moreover, Kinokit received a contract for a range of services for the development and production of video information products on the topic “Day of Defenders Ukraine” worth UAH 5 mln from SE “Center for Protection of Ukrainian Information Space.”

In addition, in November, the same procuring entity purchased the production of audiovisual products for UAH 19.5 mln from it. Presumably, this is about the content for “United Marathon.”

In total, Kinokit received UAH 172.6 mln from various procuring entities in 2022.

At the beginning of 2023, “Rada” concluded a contract with Kinokit LLC specifically for the production of programs for the telethon worth UAH 120 mln. Services include the development of programs under the working names “News,” “Special Reports,” “Reports of the Network of Correspondent Offices,” “Live,” “Field Studios,” “Conversational Studios,” and “Documentary Projects.” The company won the art competition again.

The Kyiv LLC “Kinokit” was founded in 2017 according to the YouControl service, the ultimate beneficiary is a resident of Odesa Yuliia Drozdova. The director of the company is Volodymyr Oseledchyk, who in 2020 owned a share of the authorized capital of the company. According to Bihus.info, Volodymyr Oseledchyk is also a lecturer at the Ukrainian Film School, founded by Kyrylo Tymoshenko’s wife, Aliona Tymoshenko, and Yuliia Drozdova, mentioned above, studied at the same school.

SE “Center for the Protection of the Ukrainian Information Space” financed the costs of not only KINOKIT LLC in the 2022 marathon. In November-December, the funds from the budget were also received by:

●      PJSC Inter TV Channel — UAH 15 mln (paid)

●      LLC “SLM News” (ICTV) — UAH 15 mln (paid)

●      LLC Broadcasting Company Studio 1+1 — UAH 15 mln (paid)

In total, the company received almost UAH 19 mln from various government procuring entities in a month.

●      LLC “We-Ukraine” — UAH 7 mln (paid)

●      LLC “Teleone” — UAH 5.7 mln (for the New Year’s concert)

New Year’s concert “United.Together Into the New Year!” lasting 2 hours cost the budget UAH 5.7 mln. The contract was concluded with LLC “Teleone.” The contractor was to ensure the development of the script, casting of artists, their accompaniment during the filming, shooting, and editing of the concert itself.

LLC “Teleone” was established in 2010. 100% of the company’s shares belong to LLC “TV-Radio Company Ukrainian Youth Music Channel M1.” According to YouControl, the final beneficiaries of the latter firm are, in particular, Mykola Bahrayev, Viktor Pinchuk, and Olena Pinchuk.

FreeDom

In March, the FreeDom marathon began broadcasting — a daily television information project that is broadcast in Russian on the Ukrainian foreign broadcasting channel UA, owned by the State Enterprise “Multimedia Platform of Foreign Broadcasting of Ukraine” (SE “MPFBU”). On August 24, the UA TV channel was renamed FreeDom.

In addition to the editorial offices of MPFBU, the media groups 1+1, Starlight Media, and Inter Media Group are also involved in the production of content (the media group Ukraine until July 2022 as well).

SE “MPFBU” signed contracts for the creation of content for “FREEDOM” in July, and then in November with:

●      LLC News Group Ukraine — UAH 48.5 mln *

*The contract was terminated in July, as the investment company SCM of Rinat Akhmetov decided to withdraw from the media business.

●      “Foreign enterprise 1+1 production” — UAH 59 mln (UAH 41.9 mln and UAH 17.1 mln) paid

●      LLC “SLM News” (ICTV) — UAH 55.6 mln (UAH 41.6 mln and UAH 14 mln) paid

In total, LLC “SLM News” received UAH 73.6 mln from government procuring entities.

●      PJSC Inter TV Channel — UAH 33 mln (paid)

In total, PJSC Inter TV Channel received UAH 49.7 mln from government procuring entities.

Content for the TV channel “Dom”

In addition to the Freedom channel, the Multimedia Foreign Broadcasting Platform also has “Dom” in its management. While the first broadcasts a Russian-speaking marathon, the second shows more entertaining content: various shows, films, and TV shows. For the production of programs for it, last year, tenders were conducted for more than UAH 30 mln.

Morning at Home: UAH 13.4 mln — 2022, UAH 32 mln — 2023

A television project under the working title “Morning at Home” is produced by LLC Overkat Studio. In 2022, the company signed 5 contracts worth UAH 13.4 mln. The first two — even before the start of the russian invasion, the rest — in October and December last year.  In January 2023, a new contract was signed with LLC Overkat Studio for the production of 120 episodes of “Morning at Home” with a total value of UAH 32 mln.

Kyiv Overkat Studio was created in October 2021 by Mykola Borodai. And in December 2021, Mykola Tolstykh from Kyiv, who is the producer of the show “Morning at Home,” became the founder and director.

Talk show “Quiet Evening”: UAH 7.4 mln — 2022 (paid), UAH 32.8 mln — 2023

The talk show with the working title “Quiet Evening” in Ukrainian is produced by LLC Sun Films, with which 2 contracts for UAH 7.4 mln were concluded last year. One contract for the production of 6 episodes of “Quiet Evening” was signed in November, then the amount of the contract was UAH 6.5 mln (UAH 1 mln per episode). Another episode for UAH 888,000 was purchased in December. Both contracts are paid.

On January 20, LLC Sun Films signed a contract for the production of 37 episodes of the talk show “Quiet Evening” in 2023. The amount of the contract was UAH 32.8 mln (UAH 880,000 per episode).

The producer of the program is Andrii Boutionok. The show airs under the name “A Quiet Evening with Olena Kravets” because it is hosted by the former participant of “Kvartal 95” Olena Kravets.

LLC Sun Films was registered in Kyiv in October 2021. The founder and director is Serhii Storozhev from Mariupol. He is known as a director, including of the following: “Dedication to Eve” (2023), “My Sweet Home” (2020), and the series “The Color of Revenge” (2021).

 

“Day at Home” — UAH 6.2 mln (paid)

Information and entertaining, comedy and analytical day show “Home on the Wave” (broadcast name “Day at Home”) was ordered from LLC Z Production. 18 episodes of this show cost UAH 6.2 mln, the contract was concluded in July.

Earlier, in February 2022, the SE MPFBU signed two contracts with LLC Z Production for the production of 43 episodes of the show “Home on the Wave” with a total cost of UAH 14.8 mln. However, due to Russian aggression, the contracts were terminated. The producer of the show is Yulia Yukhmych.

The Kyiv LLC Z Production  was founded in 2017 and belongs to the director Tetiana Altukhova. Prior to it, the owner was Vladyslav Matiash, who headed the channel “112 Ukraine” (now under the sanctions of the NSDC for the financing of terrorism), and formerly worked in “1+1 Media.”

“Top Show” — UAH 3.5 mln (paid)

LLC Wawawave Films produced a political program “Advantage” (broadcast name – “Top Show”). The contracts had been concluded before February 24, 2022. Under one of them, the enterprise created 10 episodes for UAH 2.2 mln, under the other — 6 episodes for UAH 1.3 mln.

 

The company also worked on the following projects:

“Naoslip” — UAH 703,000 (paid)

“Presumption of guilt” — UAH 604,000 (paid)

“Dissidents” — UAH 1.1 mln (paid)

The Kyiv Wawawave Films belongs to Kateryna Chihir from Kyiv, and Yurii Kalynovskyi, who used to own it, now manages the company. In total, in 2022, the company received UAH 6 mln from the budget.

This publication was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.