MOSCOW, JULY 1, 2010 – On July 1, Russian-based English language news channel RT starts broadcasting 24/7 in the UK. Round-the-clock broadcasting will be via the major British terrestrial system of digital broadcasting television, Freeview (on Ch 85).
The Freeview system has a reach of 18.6 million households in the UK. Several TV channels were competing for the Freeview slot, including English-speaking news channel Al Jazeera, which has announced the launch of five-hour daily broadcasts. “For the past year that RT was broadcasting 6 hours a day via Freeview, we received lots of requests from our viewers to start broadcasting round-the-clock,” says Margarita Simonyan, RT’s Editor-in-Chief. “We are glad we have managed to do so,” she added. “Finally in the UK RT is available 24/7 in almost 90% of households.” In the UK, the RT news channel is also available in the package of the major satellite operator British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), which is also accessible in Ireland. Besides, RT’s newsblocks in English can be viewed by subscribers of the free British satellite platform Freesat.