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Kommersant TV to Close

Kommersant will stop broadcasting its television channel due to a lack of profitability.

The Kommersant TV channel, run by the same media holding that owns the Kommersant business newspaper and Kommersant FM radio, went on air last year. It was available through a number of cable providers, including NTV Plus and Akado, as well as for free on its website.

"The channel in its current form is economically ineffective and, in our opinion, doesn't have the potential to be self-sufficient," Kommersant general director Dmitry Sergeyev told Interfax on Tuesday.

"The decision has been taken to temporarily stop broadcasting Kommersant TV and occupy ourselves with developing a new model for its development," Sergeyev said, adding that the company's management was considering switching to an Internet TV-based model.

Alisher Usmanov, Russia's richest businessman with an estimated fortune of more than $18 billion, controls the holding.

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