Match TV

History

Establishment

On 17 April 2015, the RBK media holding initially reported unconfirmed information that the TV channel Russia-2 might be transferred to the Gazprom-Media holding, with NTV-Plus planning to create a full-fledged sports channel on its basis. Three days later, according to TASS, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko expressed concern during a press conference in Sochi about the lack of a publicly accessible sports channel in Russia. He stated that the issue of sports broadcasting would be discussed at the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports but declined to reveal details of the planned decisions. The Council meeting took place on 2 June 2015. During the meeting, Gazprom-Media CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko announced the creation of a new specialized, publicly accessible sports channel, to be formed on the production and technological base of NTV-Plus and the Sportivnoye Veshchaniye (Sports Broadcasting) autonomous non-profit organization, as well as the distribution network of Russia-2. On 5 June 2015, the National Sports Channel limited liability company was established.

According to item 4 of the list of instructions following the Council meeting, signed by the Russian president on 25 June 2015, work on creating a nationwide mandatory public sports channel was to be completed by 1 August 2015. The new channel was named Match TV. As reported by the newspaper Vedomosti and confirmed by sports commentator Georgy Cherdantsev, all employees of Russia-2 were given the opportunity to transfer to Gazprom-Media.

On 15 July 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin amended the decree "On Nationwide Mandatory Public TV and Radio Channels," replacing Russia-2 with Match TV in item 3 of the list, corresponding to the channel's position in the first multiplex of digital terrestrial television. On 31 July, the first license for Match TV was issued, incorporating all existing frequencies of Russia-2 (926 analog broadcast frequencies). Temporarily, from 1 August to 31 October 2015, Russia-2 broadcast in place of Match TV across its entire distribution network, both in analog and digital television.

Match TV was led by prominent TV host, producer, and public figure Tina Kandelaki (General Producer) and former CEOs of the Domashny channel Natalia Bilan (Creative Director) and Natalia Korotkova (Programming Director). Kandelaki's appointment was met with mixed reactions from viewers and staff of NTV-Plus sports channels, leading to a public dispute between Kandelaki and commentator Vasily Utkin, who announced on 11 August his refusal to work under the new director. However, he reversed his decision a month later.

Promotion

The new channel's logo, designed in the style of Soviet constructivism by Shandesign studio, was unveiled in mid-September 2015. It immediately faced significant criticism from designers. The logo was displayed in the top-right corner of the screen, with its symbols alternating between red and white every 7 seconds during broadcasts. During commercials (and likely promos as well), the logo disappeared from the screen. Typically, the logo would vanish 0.5 seconds after a commercial break began and reappear 0.5 seconds after it ended. In rare cases, the logo disappeared 7 seconds before a commercial block (not just the break) and reappeared 7 seconds after it concluded. On 25 October, rappers Basta and Smoky Mo released a music video for the song Final Match, which became the channel's anthem. The video was directed by Rezo Gigineishvili.

Several promotional videos were produced featuring Match TV commentators and dozens of famous athletes. On 15 October 2015, unified metro passes for 60 rides (with a total print run of 1.2 million) went on sale in the Moscow Metro, alongside outdoor advertisements featuring Alena Zavarzina, Yelena Isinbayeva, Alexander Kerzhakov, Alina Kabaeva, Timofey Mozgov, and Tatyana Navka. The campaign coincided with the launch of Match TV.

On 18 November, RBK published an investigation revealing that Match TV had managed to organize an advertising campaign in the Moscow Metro virtually for free. The sole advertising operator in the metro had been barred from placing any ads since August 2015. Match TV secured support from the Moscow Metro State Unitary Enterprise, whose employees placed stickers. Other advertising agencies were denied similar requests, as commercial advertising was to be handled by a new contractor to be selected at auction. The Moscow Department of Transport stated that it did not consider the Match TV stickers commercial advertising, and the metro's revenue from the operation equaled its expenses. However, by law, socially significant advertising must feature the Moscow coat of arms and a note stating, "With the support of the Moscow government," which were absent from the stickers. If the advertising had been classified as socially significant, its cost would have been 20% of the standard rate (5 million rubles instead of 25.3 million rubles per month).

On 29 October, an official presentation of the channel was held for the press and future viewers at the Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow.

2015–2020: Launch of Broadcasting

On 1 November 2015 at 6:30 Moscow time, Match TV began broadcasting. Due to a national day of mourning for the victims of the EgyptAir crash, the schedule was adjusted, and commercial advertising was suspended. The first live broadcast on Match TV was a VTB United League basketball game between CSKA Moscow and Kalev, aired at 13:00 Moscow time. The first hockey broadcast was a match between Moscow teams Dynamo and Spartak, which started four hours later. The KHL rescheduled two of Spartak's away games in the regular season to accommodate this broadcast, and the subsequent Russian Premier League match between Spartak and Ural was delayed by 10 minutes to show a shootout. The qualifying session for the 17th round of the Formula 1 World Championship was broadcast on Russia-2 on 31 October, while the Mexican Grand Prix aired on Match TV on 1 November.

Starting in 2016, during routine maintenance on Match TV, which occurred every three months from Tuesday to Wednesday night (later from Sunday to Monday night from 2020, and from Thursday to Friday starting 16 May 2025), broadcasts were temporarily switched to the old channels 2x2 and Zvezda. Maintenance periods initially ran from 2:00 to 10:00 Moscow time (extended to 11:00 from July 2016). These measures were introduced on 20 January 2016, following the practices of TV-6, TVS, and Sport/Russia-2, and coincided with similar schedules on NTV and Kultura.

In January 2016, about half of the channel's commentators were laid off, and several prominent sports journalists ended their collaboration with Match TV (including Vasily Utkin, Vladimir Stognienko, Alexey Andronov, Kirill Dementyev, Alexander Yelagin (briefly), and Alexander Kuzmak). Layoffs continued in 2017, despite denials from the channel's press service. Many managers involved in the channel's founding also left. Later, Maria Komandnaya, Ekaterina Kirillcheva, Valery Karpin, and Roman Gutzeit also ceased working with the channel.

In September 2016, Match TV refused to broadcast the Paralympics, from which Russian athletes were banned. Kandelaki stated that the decision was justified by "a sense of dignity and respect for the country".

Ratings in the channel's early months were lower than those of Russia-2. According to Colta.ru, by the end of 2015, Match TV ranked 19th in popularity among federal channels. By the end of 2016, it still lagged behind Russia-2, with a 3.2% share among men aged 25–59.

Since 2020

From mid-March 2020, due to numerous cancellations and postponements of sports events caused by the global epidemiological situation, the channel began filling its broadcast schedule with a large number of in-house productions (including studio shows with guests and experts) and reruns of past sports broadcasts (e.g., highlights of the Russian national football team's matches at major tournaments and qualifiers, as well as the most exciting European club matches from previous years). Given the force majeure circumstances, the channel urgently acquired broadcasting rights for sports events not canceled due to the coronavirus, such as football leagues in Australia and Belarus (including their cup competitions). As a result, the channel's ratings dropped significantly—by half. For example, on 12 March 2020, the channel was watched by an average of 3.7% of male viewers aged 14–59 in Russian cities with populations over 100,000 (the demographic primarily targeted by the channel's advertisers). A year earlier, on 12 March, the channel's share was 5.3%. A similar decline was observed on other days. The channel's average share from 12 to 21 March fell from 3.7% the previous year to 2% during the same period this year.

Additionally, Russian print publications (both federal and regional) providing TV schedules did not include Match TV's programming for the periods of 23 March to 12 April, 15 to 21 June, and 3 to 9 August 2020, due to difficulties in compiling the schedule for the reasons mentioned above. Instead, schedules of other channels were temporarily published in its place. For example, magazines like 7 Days and Antenna-Telesem replaced Match TV's schedule with that of OTR, while the weekly Telec published the schedule of Pobeda. The weekly Komsomolskaya Pravda and its affiliated magazine Teleprogramma replaced it with the schedule of Channel Five. The weekly Vechernyaya Moskva was one of the few print publications that stopped publishing Match TV's schedule altogether, replacing it with TV-3.

On 6 November 2020, media reports indicated that the channel's chief producer, Natalia Bilan, had left her position.

From February 2021 to October 2022, Match TV aired non-sports content to boost ratings, including the automotive show Glavnaya Doroga (from NTV), the dance show Tantsy (from TNT), as well as various TV series (mostly reruns from other channels within the holding) and films. This programming helped expand its target audience.

Main broadcasts of the channel

Football

UEFA European Championship (2016, 2020, 2024)

FIFA World Cup (2018, 2022, 2026)

Russian Premier League

Bundesliga (2021–present)

Serbian SuperLiga (2024–25)

Olympics

Tokyo 2020

Beijing 2022

Ice Hockey

2017

2018

2019

2020 (it was planned, but the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)

2021

2022

2023

UEFA Champions League (tournament did not return after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

UEFA Europa League (tournament did not return after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

UEFA Europa Conference League (tournament did not return after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Premier League (it was planned, but in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the board suspended the league's six-year deal, with all Premier League programming leaving the station with immediate effect, and the contract was cancelled)

Ligue 1 (rights were lost after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Eredivisie (rights were lost after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Primeira Liga (rights were lost after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Scottish Premiership (rights were lost after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Coupe de France (rights were lost after 2021-22 season broadcast was suspended and then curtailed)

Notable staff

Yelena Grishina (born 1968), Olympic fencer

Yana Batyrshina (born 1979), Olympic rhythmic gymnas

Olga Bogoslovskaya (born 1964), Olympic athlete

Konstantin Genich (born 1978), Russian professional football player

Emma Hagieva (born 1989), Russian figure skater

Yury Dud (born 1986), German-born Russian journalist

Denis Pankratov (born 1974), Olympic swimmer

Sergei Gimayev (1955 – 2017), Soviet ice hockey player

Dmitry Guberniev (born 1974), Russian TV presenter

Valery Karpin (born 1969), football manager and former player who manages the Russian national team