The State Support Saved Broadcasters

The 2020 pandemic year hurt many areas of our lives. Radio broadcasting was included in the list of the most affected industries. In Russia state support measures allowed the radio broadcasters to survive, keep their creative teams, and save approximately 500 million rubles.

What was included in the state support package? Concessional loan with the possibility of transforming it into a subsidy in 2021, as well as reducing the rates of insurance premiums and contributions to the Russian Pension Fund.

The largest radio holdings, having received state support, in turn extended a helping hand to their partners in the regions. License fees were reduced to 80-90% or canceled altogether.
In addition, the agreements with Russian Authors’ Society and Russian Organization for Intellectual Property were revised in favor of the broadcasters.

According to the President of Russian Academy of Radio Andrei Romanchenko, these reciprocal measures have allowed many broadcasters to continue broadcasting their radio channels and keep creative teams.