TV Rain

TV Rain (Russian: Телеканал Дождь) is a Russian (2010-2022), Latvian (July — December 2022)https://bnn-news.com/russian-independent-channel-tv-rain-permitted-to-continue-operating-from-riga-235393 and Dutch (December 2022 - present)https://eng.lsm.lv/article/features/media-literacy/tv-rain-granted-dutch-broadcast-license-will-relocate-from-riga-to-amsterdam.a490953/ independent television channel and media company founded in 2010. It airs news, political debates, business reports and documentaries. Most of its shows are live broadcasts. It is owned by journalist Natalya Sindeeva.
In March of 2022, the Russian government has banned the website of TV Rain among other opposition outlets. On March 4, 2022, the channel announced a temporary halt of its operationshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi2XIngcCvc, with most journalists fleeing the country and starting their own independent channels. All of its 20,000+ videos were privated, amassing more than 2 billion views, with the exception of three. 
On June 9, 2022, the Latvian authorities had issued TV Rain a license to broadcast in the European Union. On July 18, the Channel resumed broadcasting.
==History==
===Early days===
TV Rain was founded by two women, Natalya Sindeyeva, media entrepreneur and owner of the "Silver Rain" radiostation and Vera Krichevskaya, a director. As shown in the "F@CK THIS JOB" documentary film about the history of the channel, Vera Krichevskaya had left the team early, due to personal disagreements with Sindeyeva. In its first 6 months, the channel had broadcasted its meetings, screenwriting and castings, with Sindeyeva calling this period in the channel's history a "reality-show".
===Siege of Leningrad controversy===
On January 26, 2014, during the 70th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad, the historical show titled the "Diletants" had started a poll, asking whether Leningrad should have been abandoned by the Soviet Army, in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives. The poll was shared in social media. 
After receiving backlash, the poll was removed from TV Rain's Twitter account after 20 minutes, with the crew publicly apologizing for it. The channel was publicly criticized by members of the Russian State Duma and other politicians associated with the Russian government, it was investigated by the Russian prosecutor's office and the Roskomnadzor. The channel was cut off from most digital television packs, leaving the channel isolated and causing it to lose most of its revenue.
===Foreign agent designation===
The channel was designated as a "foreign agent" by the Russian Ministry of Justice on August 20, 2021. The channel was the first fully Russian legal entity to be given the label. The channel tried to appeal the decision of the ministry, with no result. The decision was reviewed by the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, which deemed it fully legal.
===Temporary halt of operations===
On March 1, 2022, the Russian General Prosecutor's Office had demanded the ban of TV Rain and an another Russian network, the Echo of Moscow, as a whole. The websites of both channels were banned the same day. Most of the channel's employees, including the editor-in-chief, Tikhon Dzyadko, and his wife Yekaterina Kotrikadze, had left Russia due to threats. On March 4, 2022, the crew had announced a "temporary halt of the channel's operations", finishing the channel's 12 years of continuous broadcasting with the recording of the Swan Lake ballet, which was used by the Soviet government during the August Coup. During March of 2022, several TV Rain employees had opened their own YouTube channels.
===Resume of broadcast===
On June 6, 2022, Natalya Sindeyeva and Tikhon Dzyadko had announced that TV Rain was granted a license to broadcast in the European Union by the Latvian government. The license became valid on June 9. It was teased that the headquarters of the channel will be located in Latvia, with additional studios located in Georgia, France and the Netherlands.
In an interview to a Russian independent outlet Holod on July 16, Natalya Sindeeva formally announced the channel's returnhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dLvee0UCMU. On July 18, 2022, the channel resumed broadcast from Latvia.
Rain employees had opened their own YouTube channels.
===Exile from Latvia===
On December 6, 2022 Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) revoked TV Rain's broadcasting license, citing "threats to national security and public order"https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/06/latvia-revokes-exiled-russian-stations-license-over-war-coverage-violations-a79606 and on January 9, 2022 it was announced the channel is moving to the Netherlands, as it was granted a Dutch broadcasting licensehttps://theins.ru/news/258413.
==Fake News==
Fake News is an additional YouTube channel operated by TV Rain. It is currently hosted by TV Rain journalist Masha Borzunova, but was formerly co-hosted by Alexey Korostelyov and Ilya Shepelin, both former TV Rain journalists that had left the team prior to the halting of operations. It is primarily focused on exposing the Russian State Media through entertainment.
In June 2022, the Fake News team had teamed up with European public service channel , to release Fake News episodes in English, oriented at viewers, who are not familiar with Russian propaganda.
==References==
Category:Film YouTubers
Category:News YouTubers
Category:Latvian YouTubers
Category:Russian YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2010
Category:One million subscribers
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Category:Three million subscribers
Category:Four million subscribers
Category:One billion views