Channel One

What is Channel One?

Channel One — Первый канал — is a Russian television channel. It stands at item 1 of the list of all-Russian mandatory public-access television channels annexed to Presidential Decree No. 715 of 24 June 2009, which is the instrument that requires it to be carried free to air across Russian territory on the first multiplex.^[2] It is a general channel, not a sports channel, and its sport output is a strand within a wider schedule.^[1]

Its ownership has a dated public record and an unresolved one. Interfax reported on 22 December 2020 that the shareholding at that time was the federal property agency Rosimushchestvo with 38.9 per cent, the news agency ITAR-TASS with 9.1 per cent, the transmission enterprise TTC Ostankino with 3 per cent and structures of National Media Group with 29 per cent, giving the state 51 per cent in total. The same report stated that a presidential decree of 21 December 2020 provided for the state holding to fall to not less than 34 per cent through an additional issue of shares sold to non-state shareholders, that the channel was removed from the list of strategic enterprises, and that the digital development ministry said a golden share mechanism would be applied.^[3] Those percentages sum to 80 per cent. The remainder of the shareholding, and whether the additional issue was carried out, could not be retrieved; the figures above are the position as Interfax reported it on 22 December 2020.

What does Channel One cover?

The categories named on the channel's sport index on 20 September 2026 were figure skating, boxing, volleyball, hockey, cross-country skiing and artistic swimming, offered with live broadcasts, recordings of tournaments, sport news, interviews and documentaries about athletes and coaches. The material carried on the index that day fell under three of those six: figure skating, boxing and hockey. No volleyball, cross-country skiing or artistic swimming material appeared on the page retrieved.^[1]

Figure skating accounts for most of the entries on that index. Material carried there included the Russian national team control skates for the 2026 season across women's, men's, pairs and ice dance; the Russian Grand Prix series and its final; a T-Bank Cup event; and junior control skates and junior Grand Prix rounds.^[1]

Beyond skating the index carried two boxing bouts, one of them a Dmitry Bivol world title fight for the WBA and IBF belts, and a hockey all-star match billed as the match of the year for 2026, together with an events calendar, behind-the-scenes material and athlete video diaries.^[1]

How large is Channel One's audience?

No audited audience figure for the channel, and none for its sport output, could be retrieved. Mediascope describes itself as the organisation authorised since 2017 to research the size of television channel audiences in Russia, and states that its television measurement covers residents of the country aged over four, reported both nationally and for the combined aggregate of cities with populations above 100,000.^[5]

Medialogia's sports-sector citation rating for 1 April to 30 June 2026 lists twenty specialist sports outlets and does not include this channel, so no citation index for its sport output is available from that source.^[6]

Since when has Channel One existed?

Three dates attach to the channel in the sources retrieved and none of them is a founding date for the broadcaster. Presidential Decree No. 715 of 24 June 2009 established the list of all-Russian mandatory public-access television channels on which Первый канал stands at item 1.^[2] A presidential decree of 21 December 2020 provided for the reduction of the state holding and removed the channel from the list of strategic enterprises.^[3] On 16 December 2022 the Council of the European Union announced a package in which, in its own words, it “initiated the process for suspending the broadcasting licences” of four outlets, Pervyi Kanal among them.^[4]

The date on which the channel or its predecessor entity was founded, and the date on which its sport strand was constituted, could not be established from any source retrieved, and no founding date is given here. When the channel's figure skating output became a standing section of its schedule is likewise unestablished from a retrieved source.

Why does Channel One matter in Russia's sport?

The documented reason is distribution coupled with the sport that appears on it. A place at item 1 of the annex to Presidential Decree No. 715 means the channel reaches Russian households free to air on the first multiplex, and the sport carried on its index on 20 September 2026 was figure skating, boxing and hockey.^[2][1]

Figure skating is the clearest case. The Russian national team control skates, the domestic Grand Prix series and its final, and the junior rounds of both were all carried on the channel's sport index for the 2026 season, which puts a domestic competition calendar on a general channel with mandatory nationwide carriage.^[1]

Two external facts belong with that. Interfax's report of 22 December 2020 records a shareholding then majority-held by the state and a decree providing for that holding to fall while a golden share was retained.^[3] And in its package of 16 December 2022 the Council of the European Union, in its own words, “initiated the process for suspending the broadcasting licences” of four outlets including Pervyi Kanal, stating that the outlets named are under the permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation.^[4] Both are dated acts of identified bodies. The international standing of Russian sport itself, and the neutral-athlete mechanisms that go with it, are set out separately under national suspensions and neutral athletes.