Today, the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (abbreviated as VGTRK) holds a leading position in the national broadcasting market, and a leader in programming. VGTRK encompasses:
- Federal TV channels: Russia 1, Russia Culture
- More than 80 regional television and radio companies broadcasting in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation
- Russia 24, the first national 24-hour information channel
- RTR Planet, a Russian-language international TV channel which has been broadcasting abroad since 2002
- The Russian version of the Euronews TV channel
- Five radio stations: Radio Rossii, Mayak, Kultura, Vesti FM and Yunost
- Russia, a state-run Internet channel that integrates dozens of Internet resources.
The All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company was established on July 14th, 1990. A few months later, Radio Russia went live. On May 13th, 1991 the TV channel RTR began broadcasting, which has since 2001 become known as the Russia TV Channel.
In early 1993, the VGTRK was granted the status of a state-wide company. In the same year Russia became a full member of the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with the power to make key decisions concerning the work of the EBU, and a member of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).
In 1998-99 and again since 2007, the Ochevidnoye-Neveroyatnoye (The Obvious and the Improbable) TV show was aired in Russia (now Russia One) and Culture (Russia K) TV channels operated by VGTRK. Now the goal of disseminating scientific knowledge is addressed by the 24-hour cable channel My Planet and many other educational programs of Russia’s oldest and largest TV and radio company.
In 1998, all media assets were merged into a holding company by a decree of the President of the Russian Federation. Thus, Russia has the largest corporation of state-run electronic mass media which is present in almost all niches of the modern Russian television.
The General Director, Oleg Dobrodeyev, is a Russian journalist and media manager
