Television in the Soviet Union

Television in the Soviet Union was owned, controlled and censored by the state. The body governing television in the era of the Soviet Union was the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting (Государственный комитет по телевидению и радиовещанию СССР) and the USSR Gosteleradio (Гостелерадио СССР), which was responsible for both the Soviet Central Television and the USSR Gostelradio.[1]

Soviet television production was classified into central (USSR Gostelradio and Soviet Central Television (TsT SSSR, Russian: Центральное телевидение Гостелерадио СССР, ЦТ СССР)), republican, and regional broadcasting.

History

In 1938, television broadcasting began in Moscow and Saint Petersburg under the auspices of the All-Union Committee for Radiofication and Radio Broadcasting at the USSR Sovnarkom (Всесоюзный комитет по радиофикации и радиовещанию при СНК СССР).[2]

On 1 October 1934, Russia's first televisions were produced. They had a 3 × 9 cm screen and a mechanical Raster scan in 30 lines at 12.5 frames per second. On 15 November 1934, Moscow had its first television broadcast. It was a concert. Then, on 15 October 1935, the first film was broadcast.

On 9 March 1938, a first experimental studio television program was broadcast from Shabolovka tower in Moscow. Three weeks later, the first full film, The Great Citizen (Великий гражданин) was broadcast. On 7 June 1938, a television broadcast was trialled in Leningrad.

World war II disrupted regular television broadcasting until it was re-instated in Moscow on 15 December 1945. On 4 November 1948, the Moscow television centre adopted a new 625 line standard. On 29 June 1949, the first out of studio broadcast of a soccer match was broadcast live from the Dynamo sports stadium. On 24 August 1950, a long range broadcast was made from Moscow to Ryazan.

In time for the golden jubilee year of the October Revolution in 1967, colour broadcasts debuted in both Moscow and Leningrad on their respective local TV channels.

Distance and geography

The size and geography of the Soviet Union made television broadcasting difficult. These factors included mountains such as the Urals, the Taiga and the Steppes and the encompassing of eleven different time zones. For instance, a program broadcast at 18:00 in Moscow would be shown at 21:00 in Frunze, Kirghizia. The population density was irregular with many more residents found in the east. The Soviet Union was also relaying broadcasts to other Warsaw Pact states.[3]

Soviet television standard

The Soviet broadcast television standard used System D (OIRT VHF band with the "R" channels ranging from R1 to R12) and System K (pan-European/African UHF band), with SECAM as the color system standard. The resulting system is commonly referred to as "SECAM D/K".

Soviet television channels

There were five television channels (called "programmes") in the Soviet Union. The "First Programme" was the main channel with time slots for regional programming. (see #Regional television services below). The other channels included the All Union Programme (the second channel), the Moscow Programme (the third channel), the Fourth Programme (the fourth channel), and the Fifth programme (broadcast from Leningrad).

Not all channels were available across the Soviet Union. Until perestroika and the establishment of the Gorizont satellite network, many regions only had access to the First Programme and the All Union Programme. The new satellite network had enough transponders for all five channels to be carried to the entire Soviet Union. This increased the variation of television programmes offered. the new channels offered urban news and entertainment (Channel 3); culture, documentaries and programmes for the Intelligentsia (Channel 4) and information and entertainment from the point of view of another city (Channel 5).

Regional television services

In addition to the national television channels, each of the Republics of the Soviet Union (RSS) and Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (ARSS) had its own state radio and television company or state broadcasting committees. The regional company or committee was able to broadcast regional programming in Russian or the local language alongside the official First Programme schedule. The regional company or committee was able to broadcast additional channels for their coverage area only.

Soviet satellite services

The Soviet Union's domestic satellite television system, Orbita, was as large as Canada's Anik and the U.S.'s satellite system.

In 1990, there were 90 Orbita satellites, supplying programming to 900 main transmitters and over 4,000 relay stations. The best known Soviet satellites were the Molniya (or "Lightning") satellites. Other satellite groups were named the Gorizont ("Horizon"), Ekran ("Screen"), and Statsionar ("Stationary") satellites. People residing outside the Soviet Union who used a TVRO satellite television could receive Soviet broadcasts.

Broadcasts were time-shifted to counter the problems of the Soviet Union's geography and time zones. The national television channels were only on the air for part of the day giving room in the schedule to time-shift. There were two types of Soviet time-shifting, one based on a similar radio programme, and "Double" programs, which was composite time-shifting for the different time zones.

Only the First Programme was time-shifted based on the pattern of a similar radio programme, the All-Union First Programme from Soviet radio. TV Orbita-1 was broadcast in time zones UTC +11, +12, and +13 time zones. TV Orbita-2 was broadcast in time zones UTC +9 and +10 time zones, TV Orbita-3 in UTC +7 and +8 time zones, TV Orbita-4 in UTC +5 and +6 and the First Programme in time zones UTC +2, +3, and +4.

All other national television channels (the All-Union, Moscow, and Fourth Programmes) used the "Double" program composite time-shifting format.

Programming

Soviet TV programming was diverse. It was similar to that of American PBS. It included news programmes, educational programmes, documentaries, occasional movies, and children's programmes. Major sports events such as soccer and ice hockey matches were often broadcast live.

Programming was domestic or made in Warsaw Pact countries. There were some television miniseries with up to ten parts. At twelve parts, Seventeen Moments of Spring about Stierlitz, a Soviet superspy in Nazi Germany was an exception. It became a cult film and inspired many jokes.

The broadcasts had high levels of self-censorship. There were obvious state-mandated restrictions such as prohibition of any form of criticism of Soviet government. Other taboo topics included all aspects of erotica, nudity, graphic portrayal of violence and coarse language and illicit drug use. Religion was either portrayed in a critical light or avoided.

The leading news programmes used presenters with exemplary diction and excellent knowledge of the Russian language. Sergey Georgyevich Lapin, chairman of the USSR State Committee for Television and Radio (1970 to 1985) made a number of rules. Male presenters could not have beards and had to wear a tie and jacket. Women were not allowed to wear pants. Lapin banned a broadcast of a close up of Alla Pugacheva singing into the microphone, as he considered it reminiscent of oral sex. Lapin and his committee were accused of anti-semetism in the television programming..

Despite these limitations, television grew in popularity. The average daily volume of broadcasting grew from 1673 hours in 1971 to 3,700 hours in 1985. A new television and radio complex, the "PTRC" was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Ostankino Technical Center in Moscow was one of the largest at that time.

In the late 1980s, the nature of programming began to change. Some Western programs, mostly from the United Kingdom and Latin America, were imported. Talk shows and game shows were introduced, often copied from their western counterparts. For example, the game show, Pole Chudes (The Field of Miracles) based on Wheel of Fortune. Free speech regulations were gradually eased.

Until the late 1980s, Soviet television had no advertisements. Even then, they were rare, because few companies could produce advertisements about themselves.

The Soviet Union's television news was provided by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). It became the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS).

See also

References

  1. ↑ О РЕСПУБЛИКАНСКИХ МИНИСТЕРСТВАХ И ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫХ КОМИТЕТАХ РСФСР. Закон. Верховный Совет РСФСР. 14.07.90 101-1 :: Инновации и предпринимательство: гранты, технологии, патенты In Russian.
  2. ↑ Указ Президента РСФСР от 28.11.1991 № 242 «О реорганизации центральных органов государственного управления РСФСР» In Russian.
  3. ↑ ОБ УТВЕРЖДЕНИИ ПОЛОЖЕНИЯ О МИНИСТЕРСТВЕ ПЕЧАТИ И ИНФОРМАЦИИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ. Постановление Правительства РФ от 18.05.93 № 473 in Russian.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.