2×2 (TV channel)

2×2 (Russian: Дважды два, romanized: Dvazhdy dva, lit. 'Twice Two') is a Russian television channel. Founded in 1989, it was the first commercial TV station in the Soviet Union. The channel was shut down from 1997 to 2003, at which point it was started up again. Since then, the channel has predominantly broadcast foreign animated TV series, including children's television series, anime, and adult animation shows (similar to the American channel Adult Swim).
The channel has 4-hour versions for broadcasting in other regions of Russia.
The channel began broadcasting trials in July 1989 on the Moscow Programme frequency, becoming the first commercial channel in the USSR. Full broadcasting began on November 1, 1989. The network's programming was initially composed of advertising blocks, modern Soviet and Western music videos, cartoons, and TV series.
Broadcasting of 2x2 on Channel 3 ended on Unknown, moving to Channel 51's decimetre band, where it broadcast low quality content with a focus on home shopping.
Starting on April 1, 2007, an animated Russian channel began broadcasting content aimed at a teen and adult audience under the name of 2x2.
Since 2014, the channel has been part of the holding company Gazprom-Media. As of April 2017, it employs 45 people. The channel applied for inclusion in the second multiplex of digital terrestrial television in Russia, but failed to win the competition held by the Federal Competition Commission (FCC).
The channel was established by order of the state television and radio broadcasting of the USSR as a structural division within the General Directorate of Programs (GDP). Originally there were 6 people in the staff, including: Sergey Aleksandrovich Alekseev (managing director), Olga Smirnova, Oleg Shchur (director), Olga Lukasik (administrator). Sergey Lavrov joined the staff in August as an artist. Trial broadcasting on 3 channel in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast began in July 1989 under the name "Commercial TV channel". Broadcasting was carried out in the daytime. The duration of the broadcasts of the "Commercial TV channel" was not fixed.
The name «2×2» was coined by the team around the end of July 1989, at the same time Sergey Lavrov developed the general style of the TV channel and the original logo. On November 1 of 1989, the channel began broadcasting under its own name on the frequency of "Moscow program CT".
The lack of a rigid channel guide largely played a role in the growth of its popularity. The channel broadcast in the format of the so-called "background television". TV sets in offices, shops, cafes and other public places and institutions were often tuned to 2×2. At that time, 2×2 was the only domestic TV channel that often showed music videos, which strongly distinguished it from the General background of several existing Soviet TV channels. The channel was very popular among Soviet schoolchildren, who most often, while waiting for a 20-minute show of music videos, watched advertising blocks that sometimes lasted for 40 minutes without a break. According to a survey of 586 high school students in Moscow schools conducted at the end of 1991, the channel became the leader in popularity: it was watched by 34.16% of respondents.
From June 1990 to 31 May 1992, the channel broadcast programs of the British Super Channel. One of these programs was Blue Night. Their share in the broadcast network almost immediately became impressive-one-or two-hour selections of video clips were broadcast (the program All Mixed hit parade SPIN WIN, made up of modern popular clips), thematic programs (music, fashion, sports), movies. Some educational programs were also broadcast, including those produced by the Discovery Channel, including "After 2000".
Since mid-1991, the channel began to show the anime Macron 1. In October 1991, a legal entity Enterprise «TV channel 2×2» was re-registered as LLP Company «TV Channel 2×2».
Starting around 1992, the channel began to broadcast a program about heavy and rock music "Green Corridor", produced by the production Studio "BIZ Enterprises" entrepreneur Boris Zosimov. In the future of music policy of the channel, it was almost entirely under his control, the consequence of which in 1993 was the signing of a guide channel of a contract with the owners of the TV channel MTV Europe on the rebroadcast of some programs of the channel (for example, on the night of 1 January 1994, the ABBA concert was shown). Initially, clips from the European broadcast of MTV were broadcast during the day between series and other programs. At first, recordings of MTV broadcasts were broadcast quite often, including VJ blocks, often even without translation. Among the programs were episodes of the animated series Beavis and Butt-Head. Soon, paid clips of Russian artists such as Vlad Stashevsky and Yevgeny Kemerovo began to take the place of MTV clips more and more. By the summer of 1994, there was a daily hour-long selection of clips from the MTV broadcast (aired in the afternoon), which soon also disappeared. Music videos, but no longer from the airwaves of MTV, were occasionally broadcast in the future, still in between the series. Despite the fact that some of the ideas of Boris Zosimov (MTV) did not justify themselves, he continued to occupy part of the air on 2×2, creating a TV producer "BIZ-TV". Within its framework, a number of musical programs were released and, in fact, almost all the musical component of the channel was formed. Also, as part of this project, the program "Forgotten names", dedicated to the Soviet stage, was broadcast, later moved to the TV-6 channel, where it was aired as part of the program "Disk-channel" as "spinning disks". The host of the program was Kirill Nemolyaev [ru]. Since 2 July 1992, instead of the daytime show of feature films of Central television, the TV channel began to carry out reruns of series going to MTK, the first of which was "Nobody but you".
From 1992 to 1994 inclusive, the channel broadcast BBC, ITN and Worldnet newscasts in the morning and evening (until 18:00), and one of the morning editions was always broadcast without translation. The issues were translated into Russian by Peter Kartsev, a simultaneous translator of VHS, who also worked at TV-6.
In 1993, 2×2 first came to the satellite, which resulted in retransmission (in the recording) supported by some regional partners. Prior to the satellite launch, the channel broadcast only in Moscow and the Moscow Oblast, and through its own transmitters in Tver Oblast and Ryazan Oblast, with real-time signal delivery via ground-based RRL.
In 1993–1994, 2×2 also regularly showed commercials of the organization Greenpeace, and therefore on the air of this TV channel viewers could often see Joanna Stingray and Boris Grebenshchikov. In 1993, newscasts appeared (at first they were in the middle of each hour, less often-at the end of the ending hour, later-at the beginning of each hour, in the format of short news blocks). A half-hour weekly broadcast of Aum Shinrikyo was also broadcast.
In 1994, the channel had problems with the Australian television series "Chances", which gradually moved from the usual melodrama to a more explicit erotic genre.
In 1994–1995, the channel reached the peak of popularity due to the diverse broadcast network and the presence of such programs as" Dandy — New reality", and such animated series as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The creative concept of the TV channel was based on the principle of "family broadcasting", designed for each family member, with their own tastes and preferences. Entrepreneurs were addressed advertising blocks, children-cartoons and animated series, housewives-soap operas, young people-music videos and programs. The slogan of the then 2×2 was "We Just Work for You! 2×2 TV channel".
In 1995, according to opinion polls, the 1st Ostankino channel, then PRT, was significantly inferior to the 2×2 TV channel in the daytime. At the close of the old 2×2 (spring 1997) the situation with the ratings in morning and afternoon time has changed in favor of the PRT, and the average daily share of watching a channel was approximately 1% of the TV audience that was equivalent to the then indicators decimeter STS and REN TV, and then another meter of the Fifth channel; the same rating problems have been broadcast in the evening on the same button of the Moscow channel MTK.
Later, in 1996, Sailor Moon started airing on the channel, which was the first time this anime broadcast in Russia. The screening of Mexican telenovelas continued: "You or no one", "My second mother" and "Crossed roads". Such series as "Thunder in Paradise", "Highlander: The Series", "Sledge Hammer!", "Lassie" were also shown.
Broadcasting of 2×2 on the 3 Channel ended exactly at midnight on the night of 8–9 June 1997 due to the expiration of license number 15 of 8 June 1992, issued for 5 years. At 7:00 GMT on 9 June, the channel lost its place on the third television button for the launch of the 2 new TV channels: "Moskovia" and "TV Centre", moving to the UHF band, at 51 channel, where from 7:00 to 11:00 and from 19:00 to 3:00 on weekdays and from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 19:00 to 3:00 at weekends "Muz-TV" was broadcast (in the printed programs were transferring, reporting directly to the Muz-TV). On 51 channel 2×2 broadcast from 11 to 19 hours-on weekdays and from 14 to 19 hours-on weekends, with extremely low-quality content and the predominance of teleshopping. On 14 August 1997, the channel stopped broadcasting to Moscow and the Moscow region on the 51 channel. For a long time after the closure of the old 2×2, the company "2×2-Telemarket" existed, which was the exclusive owner of the rights to a number of films, documentaries, animated series and television series broadcast by the channel until 1997.
The implementation of 2×2 began in August 1995 on the basis of its own network of daytime broadcasting. This project provided for the distribution of TV programs from Moscow via a satellite communication system to the entire territory of Russia, the CIS countries, and to places with a high Russian-speaking population (the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Israel, Cyprus). By mid-1996, several stages of the project were successfully completed, which made it possible to switch to broadcasting 17.5 hours a day, hard network programming, and form the basis of the network. The TV audience in Russia that received AST programs was 25 million people (214 cities and towns, excluding the Moscow region) and 24 million people in the CIS countries. After the closure of 2×2 in 1997, the channel did not disappear from the air and for some time showed news from TV Centre.
In 1998, the AST-2×2 was replaced by the Prometheus AST channel owned by Gazprom, which in 2002 (mainly due to the transition to Gazprom-Media of NTV and TNT TV channels, as well as the satellite operator NTV Plus) it was transformed into «ASTV» and then completely absorbed by the Rambler Internet portal. In January 2003, instead of «ASTV», the educational channel «Rambler TV» was created, whose regional broadcasting network in 2007 was transferred to 2×2.
In 2002, the legal entity LLP Company TV Channel 2×2 was renamed to CJSC TV Channel 2×2-Moscow. On 27 February 2002, 2×2 won a competition for 43 channel in Moscow with the concept of a home shopping channel. The channel was originally scheduled to launch on November 11, 2002, but was postponed, as it turned out that the Moscow regional center (Ostankino Tower), which distributes the signal of Central TV channels, would be ready to start providing its services to 2×2 only from January 2003. Then it turned out that the operation of the 2×2 transmitter on 43 channel is influenced by radio-electronic means of one of the parts of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The launch of 2×2 was postponed to January 3, 2003, but it also did not take place.
In April 2003, test tests were carried out on the 44 channel, which showed that it was suitable for broadcasting, but it was launched a few years later for broadcasting the St. Petersburg's "Fifth Channel" in Moscow. A month later, in may, members of an interdepartmental working group composed of representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Communications and RTRS, came to the conclusion that the 2×2 channel will be relocated to the 60 channel for broadcasting. On July 7, 2003, the channel began broadcasting on the 60 channel in Moscow in an experimental mode. On September 1 of the same year, the channel began full-time airing.
From the first days of broadcasting of the revived 2×2, most of the airtime of the channel was made up of FashionTV programs and clips of domestic performers produced by the production Studio "Difficult Childhood". The name of the program was named after the popular song of Vladimir Markin "Lilac Fog". Legally, the new 2×2 was connected to the old TV channel, which was closed in 1997.
The new 2×2 defined its concept as "television for the active consumer", a kind of TV guide to the market of goods and services. According to the prescribed concept, 50% of the broadcasting of the new 2×2 channel was occupied by the retransmission of the FashionTV programs. The programs of our own production were intended for a young audience. The channel was aimed at an audience under 45 years of age with an income above $300, who pay great attention to their lifestyle. In accordance with the concept, the TV channel fundamentally refused to introduce information, social, socio-political or criminal programs into its broadcasting network.
In 2004, the TV channel "Style TV" signed a long-term cooperation agreement with 2×2. In the same year, on the frequency of the TV channel, programs of Style TV with the 2×2 logo were retransmitted (interrupting the home shopping broadcasts).
By 2005–2006, there was a critical time for the channel: the home shopping almost completely replaced the rest of the programs from the channel guide (there was no logo, screensavers indicating the media registration certificate appeared only before music videos). Basically, in 2×2's channel guide, there were only presentations of goods from the TV Club store. The broadcast of the TV store was divided into thematic categories: from kitchen goods to fitness equipment. On the night from Friday to Saturday, the channel broadcast feature films and TV series. Music videos were also shown.
In February 2006, the 2×2 TV channel was acquired by ProfMedia holding. On October 3, 2006, the new owners presented its updated broadcasting concept.
On 19 March 2007, 2×2 started rebranding. Fragments of animated series were broadcast on the 2×2 TV channel, after which the time of airing was shown, as well as a promo with the slogan "Turn off the brain, turn on 2×2!". At the bottom was the inscription "channel demo". Periodically, it was changed to the number of days remaining before the launch of a rebranded channel.
On 1 April 2007, 2×2 was finally rebranding and the channel switched to a new broadcasting format. As a result, 2×2 underwent major changes: there was a change of management and staff; the logo and graphic design were also changed. The channel began to position itself as "the first Russian animation channel for adults". The cartoons shown were dubbed into Russian. Some cartoons that aired 2×2 have already been shown on other Russian channels, for example, The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, South Park (REN TV), Beavis and Butt-Head, and Celebrity Deathmatch (MTV Russia). During the daytime, the family block is shown, showing the series which are intended exclusively for children; at night, the adult block is shown instead, for an adult audience which airs Adult Swim.
The channel also became the first to attract celebrities to voice their TV shows. So, in the dubbing of a number of TV series (South Park, King of the Hill, Popetown, 12 oz. Mouse, Robot Chicken, Tom Goes to the Mayor and Uncontrolled), Russian translator Dmitry "Goblin" Puchkov took part. The dubbing of other animated series were supervised by journalist Mikhail Kozyrev. On May 21, 2008, the premiere of the animated series Monkey Dust took place, the male roles in which were voiced by journalist Leonid Parfenov. On 13 April 2009, the animated series The Boondocks was first premiered in Russia, with some of its characters were voiced by rappers Vasily Vakulenko (Noggano) and Denis Karpenko (QP).
For the first few months, the animated 2×2 was presented in St. Petersburg, Moscow and the Moscow region (including in the Mostelecom package, where 2×2 broadcasting was carried out since 2005), and starting June, its expansion into the regions began. Broadcasting of the channel in most other regions of Russia was started on the site of the closed educational channel Rambler TV.
By the end of 2007, animated 2×2 began to achieve its first successes — in the first 2 months of autumn, it managed to increase its audience and outstrip such major channels as TNT, MTV Russia and Channel One in terms of the number of youth audience. Later, 2×2 managed to attract an age group that traditionally does not watch TV — young men and "those who have long been disappointed in TV".
At the end of 2007, the channel started showing some well-known anime series.
In 2008, the legal entity CJSC «TV Channel 2×2-Moscow"» was renamed into CJSC «TV and Radio Company "2×2"». In 2010 — re-registered as OJSC «TV and Radio Company "2×2"».
On the 2009 New Year's Eve, a concert with the participation of the young avant-garde composer Nikolai Voronov, who became famous in Runet for his song "White dragonfly of love", was shown on 2×2 immediately after the chimes. In addition, as part of the New Year's concert, a performance of the cat trainer Vladimir Krasnolozhkin was held. On New Year's Eve, the channel could also see other artists whose performances had not previously been shown on Russian television.
In early 2009, the 2×2 office moved to Varshavskoe shosse, 9, p. 1A. Before moving there was a textile factory. In July of the same year, after the appearance of Roman Sarkisov as the general director and according to the terms of the license renewal, the channel began to develop a non-animation direction: now it also broadcasts game television series (initially in a special night block 2×2|new). Most of them are satirical or parody shows with their own special, in some sense even absurd, non-standard humor. One of the first purchased TV series was "The Wrong Door" and "Greg Rabbit".
Since the fall of 2010, the channel has been broadcasting projects of its own production, the first of which were the satirical show "Reutov TV" from the creative association "Pismoshnaya" (previously it had a short-lived broadcast on the related channel MTV Russia) and the author's animated series "Pykhchevo" and "Atomic Forest". All three projects ceased to exist in different years for one reason or another, including as a result of 2×2's change of ownership. On 30 November 2010, it was announced that the channel would start airing WWE RAW on February 5, 2011. The two-year contract was announced at wwe.com. The WWE management also spoke positively about the return of the airing of their programs on Russian television.
On 14 September 2012, 2×2 began satellite broadcasting with shifts of "+2 MSK " and "+5 MSK".
In February 2014, after Gazprom-Media acquired a 100% stake in ProfMedia, 2×2, along with the Friday! and TV-3 TV channels, became a part of the media group. After the onset of the currency crisis in Russia, it became unprofitable for the channel's management to order author's animated series, and in November 2014, a Flash animated series from the Internet called "The Whale Stupid Show" began to appear on the channel. Its creator Kirill Dalnichenko (formerly a player of the KVN team "Four Bold" from Serpukhov) previously collaborated with the channel, a year ago he presented his other series - "Fizfak". In addition, the basis of its own production of 2×2 began to be reviews of movies, TV series and video games: "Immortal cinema", "Looking", and "Level Up".
In parallel with this, 2×2 began broadcasting the animated series Rick and Morty, which was produced by Adult Swim, while purchasing an amateur voice-over by the YouTuber Dmitry Karpov (Syenduk).
On 1 April 2014, the channel released its own app - «2х2APP».
In March 2015, after a small reorganization, the TV channel became part of the Gazprom-media entertainment television sub-holding (GPM RTV), its office (as well as its sister channels TNT, TV-3 and Friday!) moved to the building of the Diamond Hall business center. In June 2015, former CEO Lev Makarov said that the channel still has an archive from the old 2×2, which was closed in 1997.
On 1 January 2016, the channel ceded part of its air frequencies to the TV channel «TNT4»(before the rebranding - «TNT-Comedy»). However, the share of the channel did not change significantly, and the coverage remained also Federal and all-Russian, since in most major cities it was already retransmitted only in cable networks. In November 2016, the channel established its own animation studio, the creative producer of which was Kirill Danilchenko, and the General Director — Anna Moryakova. The staff of the Studio included animators, screenwriters and voice actors from Serpukhov, who previously worked on "The Whale Stupid Show", its products also began to be produced in the style of this animated series. Among the projects released within the studio are "The Suspicious Owl", "MulTV", "Burdashev" and others.
On 13 April 2017, the 2×2 satellite broadcast began with a shift of "+7 MSK " for residents of the Far East. In the same month, the double "+5 MSK" was replaced with "+4 MSK".
Since 2017, episodes of the popular YouTube series "Meet Bob" have been broadcast on the channel as inter-programs.
Since 10 April 2018, an online broadcast has appeared on the channel's website, which differs from the broadcast version by broadcasting in HD format; it is conducted for the Moscow time zone (+0).
On 6 April 2019, instead of broadcasting WWE wrestling, the channel began to purchase recorded fights of Latin American wrestlers "Lucha Underground". On 1 November 2019, the "2×2 Media" service was launched (before that, it was called "2×2 Hub"), where for a subscription viewers could watch content in FULL HD and without censorship on the channel's website. There were also projects from Adult Swim that did not get on the air.
In 2020, the "Bazooka Video Store" program used the 2×2 logo of the 2003-2007 model. On 19 October 2020, the channel switched to a 16:9 broadcast format.
On 16 August 2021, the TV channel changed its logo, graphic design and broadcasting concept.
In 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the channel lost licenses to many popular animated series, including The Simpsons, Futurama, Adult Swim shows and many others. Instead, Korean and Chinese dramas and the programs by 2x2's sister channels started airing.
On October 1, 2023, the 2009–2021 logo was brought back, and was moved to the upper right section.
At the beginning of 2020, information regarding the launch of the 2x2.Media platform was released.
On 8 December 2020, 2×2.Media was launched to the public. The platform explores how pop culture helps a person "grow up". 2×2.Media is distinguished by a more author's approach to materials. In addition to news, the publication also publishes longreads, special projects and curated collections. 2×2.Media tells how animation, TV series, movies, music, games and various forms of modern art have influenced and continue to influence Millennials. 2×2's main slogan, "Don't grow up — it's a trap!", further supports this motive.
As the country's largest adult-oriented animation channel, 2×2 is prone to protest among various conservative and religious groups, and occasionally with authorities. Since 'animation' as a genre was traditionally viewed as exclusively children's media in Russia, 2×2 struggles with continually highlighting that its programs are not recommended for children.
In February 2008, the Russian Media Culture Protection Department (Rossvyazokhrankultura), a regulatory body for TV in Russia, issued a warning about Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff, claiming that the shows promote "violence and brutality." This "violence and brutality" was claimed to harm the psychic health, moral development, and social morality of children, all of this being a violation of the license agreement. The department warned 2×2, which broadcasts the shows, to remove them in order to avoid legal issues. The owners of 2×2 voiced their disagreement but reluctantly fulfilled the request. Later that year, activists of the Russian Pentecostalist Church criticized 2×2 for airing South Park and The Simpsons. Their appeal to close 2×2 was rejected by the Russian media officials. On September 24, 2008, the channel's license was extended for an additional 5 years.
In July 2009, 2×2 cut a scene from the episode "Free Willzyx" of South Park, because it depicted Vladimir Putin as "a greedy and desperate leader," prompting "criticism and furious discussion on Russia blogs".