Russia’s Media Most broadcasting group has strongly refuted reports that it is in severe financial trouble. Media Most which owns, among other things, the NTV satellite channels and the Segodnya newspaper, has debts of over $1 billion, Russian Public TV (ORT) reported on 10 July. The group is headed by Vladimir Gusinsky and the NTV portfolio of channels is carried on cable and satellite throughout Russia and many Eastern European countries.

ORT in its report on Media Most said: "The major private media structure, Media-Most, is virtually on the verge of bankruptcy." The report described NTV and the newspaper Segodnya as "national treasures". Media Most is the first large-scale example of private enterprise in Russia’s media, but if the reports are correct its precarious financial position now threatens state-backed companies which have helped fund or guarantee Gusinsky’s expansion.

ORT stated that Most’s losses since last August exceed $340 million (8.01 billion Roubles), adding that Media Most’s (together with its subsidiary companies) main creditors are as follows:

Early in 1998 Most Group committed itself to investing up to $120 million in various media-related projects including new TV channels and film production. A recent statement from Media Most cited its own worth as "between $2 and $3 billion and said its revenues amounted to "approximately $200 million a year". Last August Most Bank, then judged to be Russia’s 17th largest bank, merged with two others (Oneximbank and Menatep Bank) while at the same time the media division dramatically cut back on overall expenditure and movie production with nine films being abandoned.

NTV broadcast a long statement of rebuttal at the end of its main evening news summary on Sunday July 18, stating that the financial stories were "politically motivated" and had no substance. According to an insider NTV is still planning to expand its current four channel line up to nearer six or eight channels later this year. Russia’s prime minister Sergei Stepashin stepped into the fray last week and called on the two top television stations to end their hostilities.

Like Gusinsky and Most Group, another media mogul, Boris Berezovsky, is a major shareholder in the state-run ORT channel. The two men worked together in Boris Yeltsin’s 1996 election campaign.

According to Russian press reports Yeltsin’s chief of staff Aleksandr Voloshin accused NTV’s owner of engaging in "news racketeering" and "extorting funds from the state". The aim would seem to be to deprive NTV of its independence by either declaring it bankrupt or by, perhaps, saving it with state funds – a measure which would force the company to toe the Kremlin line, the paper said. The NTV response accused ORT of unleashing "a propaganda campaign" against it, with an NTV reporter saying last week that "the oil and media tycoon Boris Berezovsky had instigated the campaign in order to distract attention from his own legal difficulties and to gain favour with the Kremlin."

Eutelsat is also involved in the Most crisis, having built and planned its W4 largely on the back of a substantial Media Most contract. Eutelsat’s Hot Bird beams NTV’s programming across Europe. In addition Eutelsat acquired an in-orbit France Telecom craft (TDF) specifically for Most’s NTV, Nashe Kino and Detskii Mir (children’s channel) back in 1997 and placed it at 36 degrees East. Eutelsat W4 has been ready for launch for some six months but held back because of financial uncertainties. Back in April Eutelsat director general Giuliano Berretta said he remained optimistic about W4 and even hinted at a June launch. Latest reports suggest W4 is slated for a Q1 2000 launch.