The Estonian company United Broadcasting Network (UBN) has launched CTV Dla Ciebie (‘For You’), a channel that distributes Ukrainian programming worldwide.
Aimed at a female audience, it includes content from leading Ukrainian media groups 1+1 Media, StarLight Media, and Film.UA Group and has made its debut in Poland this month.
The channel is broadcast in Ukrainian and Polish, with the latter initially accounting for 60% of annual airtime and the figure set to rise.
UBN also plans to expand to other countries and launch new TV channels with Ukrainian content.
The start from Poland is due to many temporarily displaced Ukrainians (at least one and a half million according to official data) and residents’ demand for Ukrainian-language content and Ukrainian-made shows.
Commenting on the new channel, Pert Lomp, CEO of UBN and general producer of CTV Dla Ciebie, said: “Estonia is one of the countries supporting Ukraine in all its efforts to win since the beginning of the big war. The support of the Estonian people is unconditional and multifaceted. At the same time, we understand how important it is to help in the cultural aspect, to get acquainted with Ukrainian identity, traditions, and culture through popularising Ukrainian content. Furthermore, Ukrainians who have found refuge abroad also need high-quality local content that will be available on operators’ networks. At the moment, we are talking about Poland, where the largest number of displaced persons from Ukraine is present, and the next step is to launch the same channel in Estonia and other European countries where we see a demand for such products. We are grateful to our partners for responding to our initiative and for joining forces to launch a TV channel with a lot of original and prime content that we are sure will resonate with the audience”.
CTV will be available in the basic packages of Polish operators at no extra cost, with the option to choose a language audio track (Ukrainian or Polish). The Polish language slots will currently cover 8 hours per day: from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 20:00 to 24:00, with plans to localise all content.
Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/10/11/united-broadcasting-network-launches-ukrainian-channel/