Arest Bilaskurski: The more channels the better

The future of the Belarusian TV lies in the development of our own local content.

Belarus has two channels with clear specialization: "Belarus-5", which broadcasts about the sport and "Belarus-3" covering culture news. Topics of other channels are not clear. This is how Arest Bilaskurski, marketing director of the largest media group in Ukraine StarLightMedia, succinctly described the state of the Belarusian television. StarLightMedia has the largest broadcast production in Eastern Europe, and as for the previous year, it leads in "viewing by all target groups" in Ukraine.

"EuroBelarus" Information Service asked Arest Bilaskurski to share his views on the prospects of the development of Belarusian television.

- Do the Belarusian state television channels correspond to the market requirements and how should they develop?

- If we have a look at the Belarusian tv-programs, it seems you have the same situation as we did in Ukraine back in the 90s. That is, the influence of Russian channels is great and their budget could not even be compared with the local, therefore it is difficult to compete with them. On the other hand, local content is fascinating. And the strength of a channel is in the local content.

- Does it present a problem for Belarus that our channels are formed mainly of the Russian content?

 - Russia produces a lot of high-quality content. Something fails, something becomes popular. And then Belarus, Ukraine and other markets buy the best product. This is your advantage. You would not buy some nonsense that no one knows. When you get rid of such an addiction you still run the risk: win or lose. But here everything is given on a platter! Again, we had the same story in Ukraine, but the prohibition of purchasing new Russian series made us launch our own production.

- So if Belarus does the same….

- Then in a year and half or two years you will have plenty of ​​local content. This is no cause for panic: what should we do? What can we broadcast?!

- It turns out that the prospect for the development of the Belarusian TV is localization, focus on Belarus?

- After we stopped working with Russia, people started orienting at Poland. They shoot a series, which audience share is 40% because everyone is interested to see their own streets, history, problems. You have some alliance with Russia and the range of interests is obviously broader. Therefore, it may be difficult to define locality.

- In your opinion, how many TV channels would be ideal to have in Belarus?

- This is a difficult question. The Poles have 150-160 channels. The viewer still watches seven channels, but everyone has a choice for making their own seven.

- How many TV channels do you have in Ukraine?

- There are about 50 channels that broadcast with advertising, serious ones. And around 20-25 channels, which are just starting. Everyone needs TV. That is there are so many niches that we can do different channels. The more channels the better.