Budgetary expenditures for the Unified Telethon of Ukraine will increase by half a billion this year

The state enterprise “Multimedia Platform for Foreign Broadcasting of Ukraine” continues to actively cooperate with TV channels participating in the “United News #UArazom” and “Freedom” marathons. In March of this year, new agreements were signed for the production of content worth 568 million hryvnias throughout 2024. In general, as a result of the expansion of cooperation with “MPIU” and the TV channel “Rada”, a total of 1.21 billion hryvnias has already been paid to content producers for the marathons.

The largest contract for 2024, worth 190 million hryvnias, was concluded with “We – Ukraine” LLC. The price per hour of content for “United News #UAtogether” remains unchanged – 196 thousand hryvnias. The company appeared in the “MPIU” telethon at the end of 2022, after the transition of TV journalists from “News Group Ukraine” to the new channel “We – Ukraine”. Information about the channel’s financing before receiving the first state contract remains unknown. The beneficiary of the new company is Ihor Petrenko, who, according to the publication “Detector Media”, is the director of the domestic policy department of the International Center for Policy Studies, and the channel was probably financed through “Energoatom”.

The remaining orders were distributed among TV channels that are traditionally owned by oligarchs, as was the case last year.

Viktor Pinchuk's LLC "SLM News" received two orders this year for almost 190 million hryvnias, including 142 million hryvnias for "United News #UArazom" for 158 thousand hryvnias per hour and 48 million hryvnias for "Freedom" for 90 thousand hryvnias per hour. Prices from this company last year were 9% lower - 143 thousand hryvnias and 82 thousand hryvnias per hour, respectively.

Igor Kolomoisky's group received 187 million hryvnias. In particular, LLC "Television and Radio Company "Studio 1+1" received 139 million hryvnias for "United News #UArazom" for 155 thousand hryvnias per hour, and the Foreign Enterprise "1+1 Production" - 48 million hryvnias for "Freedom" for 92 thousand hryvnias per hour. Last year, prices were 9% lower - 141 thousand hryvnias and 84 thousand hryvnias per hour, respectively.

Prozorro does not yet have any agreements with the Inter TV channel.

These TV channels are not the only participants in telethons. The Parliamentary TV Channel “Rada” also participates in them. However, the state-owned TV channel does not produce content on its own, but orders it from “Kinokit” LLC, which has already received 228 million hryvnias during the invasion. The company was previously associated with Kirill Tymoshenko, the former deputy head of the Presidential Office, who oversaw the telethon. Now the company belongs to Yulia Drozdova, a graduate of the Ukrainian Film School, founded by the wife of K. Tymoshenko. According to “Bigus.Info”, Drozdova was a legal advisor to the company of Timur Mindich, a former business partner of Volodymyr Zelensky. “Kinokit” is headed by TV producer and director Maksym Onanko. The other day, the Ministry of Culture confirmed the status of “Kinokit” as a critically important organization during a special period. Earlier, Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostyslav Karandeyev stated in an interview with “Interfax” that the department had secured a 50% reservation military conscripts in each cultural and information institution that belongs to the strategic direction.

The total amount of payments to private channels for content for marathons amounted to UAH 1.21 billion.