A Cypriot company has submitted an application to the Cyprus Broadcasting Authority to set up a TV channel that will broadcast round the clock, mostly comedies, in the Russian language.
Phileleftheros said that there will be no Greek subtitles, as the new station appears to be geared at the Russian speaking community living in Cyprus and to Russian tourists. The company is ready to begin broadcasting as soon as it receives a licence and will not be broadcasting news or current affairs programmes, the paper added.
But the Broadcasting Authority is reported to be hesitant. The paper says that TV frequencies are considered a national wealth and should therefore use one of the official languages of the country. Moreover, monitoring programmes in Russian difficult, as it will be obliged to hire Russian speaking staff.
A final decision is expected to be taken at the next board meeting.
Cyprus already has two Russian language radio stations.
