Alexei Pivovarov named general producer of international Russian-language TV channel RTVi

TV presenter and media manager Alexei Pivovarov has been named the general producer of international Russian-language television channel RTVi, reported Vedomosti on Monday.

Pivovarov's task, according a source cited by the newspaper, will include the creation of a new news team and of an image that is attractive to advertisers.

"We want to see not just the TV channel RTVi, but a modern media [organization], available in on all environments [accessed by] our audience, both on air and through mobile applications and on social media," said Pivovarov.

Alexei Pivovarov was a correspondent and presenter on television channel NTV until 2013. From 2013 and through February 2016, he was a producer at STS Media.

In 2012, alongside documentary filmmakers Alexander Rastorguev and Pavel Kostomarov, Pivovarov created the documentary project Srok on political protests in Russia. Later, Srok was renamed Lenta.doc became a project on the old version of Lenta.ru, before Russia's media reforms of 2014. In 2014, the feature film Srok was assembled from the project's materials.

International channel RTVi was established in 1997 under the name NTV-International. In 2001, after NTV fell under new leadership, RTVi was acquired by Vladimir Gusinsky. In 2012, the TV channel was bought by Ruslan Sokolov, the former director general of the Defense Ministry's TV channel Zvezda.

In 2014, RTVi began experiencing financial difficulties because of falling advertising sales.