The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications signed a contract with TV-Novosti for the lease of capacity aboard the Intelsat 904 satellite, Intersputnik announced Dec. 13.

The capacity will be used for on-site TV coverage. The footprint of the Intelsat 904 Spot 1 beam covers the European part of Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Israel.

The non-profit TV-Novosti was established in April 2005 and produces two news and information channels: English-language Russia Today TV and Arabic-language Russia al Yaum (Russia Today).