ATV (Russia)

## Background

In 1988 TV presenters of the "Vzglyad" program (see "VID") founded the USSR's first private TV company called Ассоциация Авторского телевидения (Association of Authors' Television) or just "**A**uthors' **T**ele**V**ision". It started creating reports for "Vzglyad" TV program. In 1990, they started broadcasting their own TV program called *Press-Club*. During the 90s the company became very popular in the country, with shows like*Vremechko*and*Night Flight,* and now the television studio is presenting the *People Want to Know*discussion program.

Note: ATV Russia is not to be confused with ITV's ATV; known as "Associated Television".

## 1st Logo (1988-1990)

Nickname: "ATVxel F", "Cheap ATV"

Logo: We see a dark red-olive-green-ultramarine sky and a tiled blue floor. The outlined letters "*A*T*V*" in an abstract font and with the "T"'s lines being extended above the other letters, colored sky blue, zoom in slowly.

FX/SFX: The outline.

Cheesy Factor: The animation is very cheap. Also, what's with the stolen music?

Music/Sounds: A snippet of the main melody to Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F".

Availability: Extinct; was possibly seen on the first television productions by the company.

Scare Factor: Low. The distorted film quality and audio followed by the zooming might make some uncomfortable. However, some might just laugh at the stolen music in this logo.

## 2nd Logo (1989?-1997)

Nicknames: "The Blue Horizon", "A-oh-A-oh-A T-T!", "Catchy ATV", "The *Press-Club* Logo"

Logo: We see a violet-blue sky and a checkered blue floor with a moving pattern (which is first used in the opening to *Press-Club*, hence the nickname). The "***A*T*V***" logo from before, this time in gold, 3D and with the "T" outstretched even more, appears from the right, goes to the center, and moves towards us slightly and stops, shining with a pink light. The floor's pattern continues moving.

Logo Variant: Sometimes word "ПРЕДСТАВЛЯЕТ" (PRESENTS) would appear letter by letter in the lower part of the screen.

FX/SFX: The 3D letters moving, the floor moving.

Cheesy Factor: The background looks 2D and doesn't match the 3D letters.

Music/Sounds: Averycatchy synth theme with Russian lyrics written by Sergei Chekryzhov and sung by Alexey Kortnev, lead singer of Russian alternative rock band Neschastny Sluchai/The Accident, singing "A-oh-A-oh-A T-T! A-oh-A-oh, V! A-oh-A-oh-A T-T!" then the singers yell "A-T-V!", followed by Kortnev saying the company name, then the two-note finish.

Availability: Extinct. Appeared before *Vremechko* and *Press-Club* in 90s, alongside other shows.

Scare Factor: Low. It's a very memorable logo, especially for those in Russia. It has one of the catchiest themes ever used in a logo.

## 3rd Logo (1997-2012)

Nicknames: "Mountain", "A-oh-A-oh-A T-T! II", "Overdramatic ATV"

Logo: On a black background, a lens flare appears, which then rapidly turns into a flash. When it disappears, we see the folded metallic letter "A" on a rocky background with shining guitar strings and ATV show clips around it (which we can see throughout the rest of the logo). Two seconds later, a sort of shine-flash effects appear on the "A", of which the latter is bigger and changes to the letter "T" in the same style. The "T" shows orange light stripes shortly before the shine-flash effects appear again, which transition to the letter "V", and the light stripes, this time being blue, are seen again. The shine-flash effects once again transition into another scene; this time we see a large yellow flash on the center. A large ATV logo rises from the surface. The logo then shines, simulating an complicated SFX background.

Variant: Before *Vremechko*, there was a variant where blue stripes appear on the top and the bottom of the logo when the letter "V" appears and the *Vremechko*red sphere emerges from the ATV logo.

FX/SFX: The blue flash appearing, the camera moving, the ATV logo appearing, the "video lights" playing and moving.

Cheesy Factor: The music is nowhere near as good as the previous logos.

Music/Sounds: A "macho" rearrangement version of the previous logo's music; now not only Kortnev sings throughout the chord progression and the lyrics are changed to "A-oh-A-oh-A T-T! T-oh-T-oh, V! V-oh-V-oh-V, A-T-V.".

Music/Sound Variants: The aforementioned *Vremechko*logo had a different soundtrack, without lyrics.

Trivia: This logo was designed by Arutyun Dzhigonyan.

Availability: Ultra rare.

Scare Factor: Medium, The sudden appearance and dramatics of the logo may catch you off-guard. Low for the *Vremechko* logo.

## 4th Logo (2005-)

Logo: On a black background, there is a still version of the ATV logo from the 3rd logo.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: None. A not-so-creative attempt at making a new logo.

Music/Sounds: None, or an announcer saying "Телекомпания АТВ" (ATV Broadcasting).

Availability: Rare; possibly seen before *People Want to Know*.

Scare Factor: Minimal, as the sudden appearance of large letters can get to some. Otherwise, it's a boring logo.