Even government channels now depend on revenue from advertising. A licensing system has been instituted for non-governmental broadcasters. While the legal framework for TV is still incomplete, it is hoped that a comprehensive broadcasting law will simplify the licensing process. The national channels and networks all subscribe to professional market research. While ratings still suffer from a lack of a common methodology among research companies, and have wide margins of error, they are now used by advertisers as a measure of popularity of individual programs, and are instrumental in negotiating advertising rates.
Most local stations use some kind of market research to judge viewer preference.
Although local surveys are often methodologically suspect, their use demonstrates that stations understand the role of market analysis in the selling of advertising and in programming choices. There are ventures, including some with international capital, to develop multi-channel and MMDS cable networks. Such networks already exist in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in several other larger regional cities. Some networks have begun signal transmission via digital satellite channels, and others are hoping to switch over to digital within the next year. The current contours of the Russian television industry would have been difficult to imagine in 1991.