Shuster’s channel, 3S.tv, which started broadcasts in the autumn of 2015, is about to suspend broadcasting from 1 January 2017 due to lack of funds, as stated in the channel’s press-release on its Facebook profile.
“We have to say goodbye to the labor of love, because we have run out of money”, as it was announced on the channel’s official site.
The announcement states that the TV channel’s team and its leader were eager to prove that Ukrainian television could be not just oligarchic.
“The situation on the media market of our country is carried to the point of absurdity, i.e. all TV channels are unprofitable, and they exist just at the expense of their magnate owners. Against this background, our attempt to work by normal business rules failed: we got criminal charges and fines from fiscal authorities, and Savik got his work permit revoked”, as stated in the appeal.
As it turned out, over its one-year operation the TV channel managed to gain a base of 20 thousand subscribers, but these funds were spent on delivering signal via cable and satellite TV.
“Among the businessmen we turned to, the support came from only one person. If in the next few weeks, some of them do respond, we will probably escape form this fate”, as the message stated.
