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TV Rain (Russian:Дождь,romanized:Dozhd,IPA:[ˈdoʂtʲ]ⓘ; stylized as ДО///ДЬ) is an independent Russian-language television channel. Launched inRussia in 2010, it has been based in theNetherlands since 2022.[3] It focuses on news, discussions, culture, politics, business reports, and documentaries. TV Rain is owned by journalistNatalya Sindeyeva. Its slogan is "Optimistic Channel."[4]
In March 2022, Russian authorities blocked access to TV Rain in response to its coverage of theRussian invasion of Ukraine. The channel relaunched from studios inLatvia in July,[5] but after multiple alleged violations had its license cancelled in December. TV Rain continued to broadcast viaYouTube and received aDutch broadcast license in December 2022.[6][7]
TV Rain news room hosting the channel founderNatalya Sindeyeva during a visit by then-President of Russia,Dmitry Medvedev in 2011
TV Rain was founded in 2010 byNatalya Sindeyeva, media entrepreneur and owner, andVera Krichevskaya, a TV and documentary film director.[8] It has focused on news, discussions, culture, politics, business reports, and documentaries.[9] Most TV Rain shows have been live broadcasts with a motto to "talk about important things with those who are important to us".[10][11]
TV Rain was one of the first channels in Russia to cover the2011 Russian protests against the alleged rigging of theparliamentary elections.[10] PresidentDmitry Medvedev was also noticed to have unfollowed TV Rain onTwitter. However, the channel was the first mass media outlet that he had chosen to follow on Twitter, according to anRIA Novosti report.[12] On 9 December 2011, TV Rain was asked to provide copies of its coverage of the protests to check if it had abided by Russian media laws.[12] By 10 December, it was showing awhite ribbon, a symbol of the protests, by its on-screen logo. The station's owner, Sindeyeva, explained this as being a sign of "sincerity", rather than "propaganda", and an attempt to be "mediators" instead of simply journalists.[10]
On 26 January 2014, TV Rain ran a poll on its website and on its live "Dilettantes" discussion program asking viewers ifLeningrad should have been surrendered to the invading Nazi army in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives during thesiege of Leningrad. Presenters citedViktor Astafyev and compared it with the1812 capture of vacant Moscow. Within 30 minutes, TV Rain removed the poll and apologized for incorrect wording. In the following days the channel was criticized by politicians, activists,State Duma members andValentina Matvienko[13][14] for its online poll on theLeningrad siege ofWorld War II.Dmitry Peskov,Vladimir Putin's press secretary, also criticized the channel[15] and said that they violated "more than a law".[16] Yuri Pripachkin, President of the Cable Television Association of Russia (AKTR), said that he wanted "to take functions of censoring".[17] In a resolution backed by theSt. Petersburg legislature's deputies,Prosecutor GeneralYury Chaika was requested to "conduct an investigation into provocative material posted on [Dozhd] website … and, if just cause is found, take appropriate measures, including shutting down the channel."[18] On 29 January, the largest Russian TV providers disconnected the channel.[14] TV Rain was forced to move to a private apartment in October 2014.[19] In November 2013, two months before the controversy, TV Rain broadcast a report by anti-corruption activistAlexei Navalny investigating high-ranking officials includingVyacheslav Volodin.[20] The channel's owner,Natalya Sindeyeva, suggested that the program caused the campaign against the channel.[21]
The Moscow Times reported that during the year-longprelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government began to act against independent and critical media. In that period dozens of journalists and independent media agencies including TV Rain were designated as 'foreign agents' by the Russian authorities. The term foreign agent has Soviet-era undertones. Entities that are designated as foreign agents are obligated to disclose their sources of funding and have to label their publications including social media posts with the tag foreign agent. Violation of the obligation attracts fines.[26]
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched afull-scale military invasion ofUkraine. On 1 March 2022, six days after the invasion began, the office of theProsecutor-General of Russia ordered the country's censor,Roskomnadzor (arm of Russian government) torestrict access to TV Rain as well asEcho of Moscow due to theircoverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces,[27] claiming that they were spreading "deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel" as well as "information calling for extremist activity" and "violence".[26] On 2 March, TV Rain editor-in-chiefTikhon Dzyadko released a statement saying he and several other TV Rain workers had fled Russia, as "it became obvious that the personal safety of some of us is now under threat."[28] On 3 March, TV Rain said it was temporarily suspending operations due to the forthcoming enactment ofwar censorship law,[29] and towards the end of its final broadcast, the crew walked off-set and playedSwan Lake in protest, in reference to the1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt when channels could not report the news and instead played footage of the ballet.[30]
On 6 June 2022,Latvia's media regulator, theNational Electronic Mass Media Council [lv] (NEPLP), issued a broadcasting license to the channel.[31][32] Tikhon Dzyadko stated onTwitter that the channel was going to broadcast not only from the Latvian capital,Riga, but also from several studios in the Netherlands, France and Georgia.[33][34] According to Lyngsat.com, the channel reappeared on 2 June 2022 in a test format on the satelliteAstra 5B and on its streaming website.[35] On 18 July 2022, TV Rain resumed broadcasting from a studio in Riga. The channel's owner, Natalia Sindeeva, stated that the launch process would have several stages and would be finalized in autumn 2022.[36][37]
On 1 December 2022, anchor Alexey Korostelev asked viewers to provide information aboutmobilization to publicize irregularities, saying: "We hope that we can help many service members, for example, with equipment and basic amenities at the front". The channel was criticized by Ukrainian activists over the statement, and Latvian Minister of DefenceArtis Pabriks called on the channel to return to Russia.[38] The next day, editor-in-chiefTikhon Dzyadko apologized, clarifying that the channel "has never been, is not, and will never be involved in assisting Russian armed forces with equipment" and stating that Korostelev had been fired. Three other employees, including hosts Margarita Lyutova and Vladimir Romensky, announced their departure from the channel over the firing.[39][40] The same day the channel was fined 10,000 euros by the NEPLP for using a map which showed Russian-annexed Crimea as part of Russia and referring to theRussian Armed Forces as "our army", the second major violation for TV Rain in recent months, according to the Latvian regulator.[41][42]
On 6 December 2022, the NEPLP decided to cancel the channel's broadcasting license, citing "threats to national security and public order".[43][44][45] Latvia'sState Security Service also urged authorities to bar Korostelev from entering the country[46] and warned Dzyadko of potential "criminal liability in case of committing criminal offenses".[47] Latvian Minister of Foreign AffairsEdgars Rinkēvičs defended the decision to initially allow TV Rain to operate in Latvia, but reminded that the channel has to comply with Latvian laws on the basis of which it was allowed to work there and therefore should be held responsible.[48] Tikhon Dzyadko called the Latvian regulator's decision to cancel the channel's licence a "farce", "absurd" and "devoid of common sense", claiming that TV Rain was not allowed to appeal the decision, and affirmed the channel's staunch opposition to the war in Ukraine.[49] CEONatalya Sindeyeva apologized to Korostelev, calling it "disgraceful" that he was fired for a "mistake", asking him to rejoin the channel as well as Lyutova and Romensky.[50]
Reporters Without Borders called on the Latvian regulator not to withdraw TV Rain's license.[51] The Latvian Association of Journalists acknowledged TV Rain had "made a serious mistake", but believed the cancellation of licence was "disproportionate to the infringements committed".[52] Russian-language news outletMeduza, also based in Latvia, called the decision "unfair, wrong, and disproportionate to the official violations flagged by the agency" and called it "an incredible gift to the Russian authorities".[53] Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov said to reporters that "some always think that there is a place better than home, that there is always more freedom than at home. This is one of the clearest examples that shows that these are the wrong illusions".[54]
In December 2022, Latvia's TV3 Group decided to evict TV Rain from its leased Riga studio in January 2023 in connection with channel's loss of license.[55][56] However, the Latvian Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs decided not to cancel employment visas issued to TV Rain employees.[57] On 5 January 2023, the channel paid the 10,000 euro fine imposed by NEPLP, but appealed against the 4,000 euro fine that was imposed for not providing a language track in Latvian.[58]
On 9 January, Dzyadko announced that the channel had received a broadcasting license in the Netherlands.[59] The next day, the channel wrote that its editorial center would be moved to Amsterdam once its employees receive permission to work there and that it was appealing the NEPLP's decision to cancel its broadcasting license.[60]
On 25 July, the Russian government branded the channel an "undesirable" organization and banned it from operating in Russia; the country's prosecutor's office accused TV Rain of distributing materials from “undesirable”, “extremist”, and “terrorist organizations”, as well as “foreign agents” such as Russian-language news websiteMeduza. The office also said the companies “discredit” Russian government bodies and law enforcement agencies, “disseminate false information” about thewar in Ukraine, and support foreign agents.[61]
In July 2025, a court in Latvia overturned the revocation of TV Rain's operating license in the country.[62]
Initially, TV Rain was planned as a niche television channel.[63] Natalia Sindeeva invested her own money that she gained from the sale of a country house, to start the channel.[64] Later, her husband, Russian bankerAlexander Ivanovich Vinokurov [ru], joined her as a co-investor. According to Forbes, by 2013, Vinokurov spent at least 15% of his 200 million dollars wealth on the channel.[2] Although TV Rain became popular, Vinokurov mentioned that, in fact, it was unprofitable during its first years of broadcasting. As a result, in autumn 2011, Sindeeva and Vinokurov started looking for sponsors.Mikhail Prokhorov andAlisher Usmanov considered investing money in the channel, but eventually neither deal was finalized.[2] As of 2013, advertising constituted about 80% of TV Rain's revenue. In the same year, the channel introduced apaid subscription: the cost of an annual subscription was 1,000Russian rubles, access to live broadcast for one day or to one program in the channel's webarchive was available for 30 rubles.[2][65]
In 2014, after the siege of Leningrad controversy, TV Rain was disconnected from Russian cable television. Consequently, the channel lost most of its audience andadvertising revenue. While TV Rain's monthly budget was about 26 million rubles at the time, advertising brought only 6 million rubles a month. Trying to compensate the losses, the channel raised the price of an annual subscription from 1,000 to 4,800 rubles. In addition, TV Rain organized a telemarathon and thus raised funds for two months of operations.[66] In the same year, the channel signed an advertising contract with theEuropean Union. According to TV Rain's financial report, in 2014–2019, the contract generated from three (2014) up to 11 (2016) million rubles a year.[67] In 2015,Boris Zimin's Sreda Foundation invested 7.5 million rubles to support the channel.[68] In 2020, TV Rain's revenue was about 342.3 million rubles, and its net profit was 13.6 million rubles. As of 2021, the channel received income from advertising, paid subscriptions, donations, andsales of promotional goods in its online store.[69]
TV Rain website provides live broadcasting and archived programs.[81] The channel is also broadcast on YouTube.[82]
In January 2017, TV Rain was forced by theNational Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine to stop broadcasting in the country.[83] It was shut down because channel content impliedCrimea was Russian territory.[83] According to the channel's owner Natalya Sindeyeva, Russian law requires that media use maps that show Crimea as a part of Russia.[83] Sinceits annexation by the Russian Federation, the status of Crimea isunder dispute; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers Crimea an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia considers Crimea an integral part of Russia.[84] Ukraine has since moved to banRTVI for similar reasons.[85]
Here and Now (daily news at 15:00 and 19:00) – Eduard Burmistrov,Tikhon Dzyadko, Denis Kataev,Ekaterina Kotrikadze, Nadezhda Metalnikova, Polina Milushkova,Anna Mongait, Valeria Ratnikova.
Morning on TV Rain (weekdays at 10:00) – Eduard Burmistrov, Tikhon Dzyadko, Denis Kataev, Ekaterina Kotrikadze, Nadezhda Metalnikova, Polina Milushkova, Anna Mongait, Valeria Ratnikova.
Kotrikadze of Foreign Affairs (Tuesdays at 17:00) – Ekaterina Kotrikadze.
Straight Line – Anna Nemzer, Anna Mongait, Kogershyn Sagieva, Lev Parkhomenko, Margarita Lyutova, Nadezhda Ivanitskaya,Stanislav Belkovsky,Victor Shenderovich.
In 2021, a full-lengthdocumentary film titledF@ck This Job was released.[86] It was written and directed byVera Krichevskaya, one of the founders of TV Rain. The film deals with work of the channel and its CEONatalya Sindeyeva.[87] The documentary was broadcast under its alternative title,Tango with Putin[88] in the UK in March 2022 as part of the BBC documentary series,Storyville,[89], about the history of TV Rain over 12 years and Sindeyeva's involvement in the station, was directed byVera Krichevskaya,[90] and released in 2021.[86]The documentary had been due to receive its Moscow premiere and Russian distribution in early March 2022, which were cancelled due to bomb threats against the Moscow cinema, and new censorship rules following theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[91]
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