On October 6, the state-owned enterprise “Multimedia Platform for External Broadcasting of Ukraine” entered into three agreements with TV channels to create content for the “United News” telethon in the amount of 75.02 million hryvnia and plans to conclude another one in the amount of 25 million hryvnia in the near future, writes “Nashi Groshi”, citing data from the Prozorro system.
The publication recalls that in April, four agreements were concluded with television channels to create content for the telethon for 2026 in the amount of UAH 637.96 million. Accordingly, three TV channels have already been ordered additional services for October–December, and an agreement with LLC Television and Radio Company Studio 1+1 is expected.
Thus, in total, the cost of creating content for the telethon in 2026 increased to UAH 712.99 million.
As a result, orders between TV channels were distributed as follows:.
“We are Ukraine” - 1046 hours - total cost 204.587 million hryvnia;
“SLM News” - 1480 hours worth 204.147 million hryvnia;
“Studio “1+1” - 1143 hours - total cost 179.165 million hryvnia;
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The OP justified the refusal to publish Mokrik’s petition about Zelensky’s press conference, but the journalist pointed out the absurdity of the reason.
If we add up the costs of another telethon for the Freedom TV channel, then the state paid almost 3.45 billion UAH to content producers for both marathons.
According to Spending, the costs of the telethon were additionally financed even after Prime Minister Sergei Koretsky announced budget austerity and cost cuts, including for the construction of protective structures for the energy sector. Thus, on October 3, the Multimedia platform for external broadcasting of Ukraine transferred UAH 27.81 million to the TV channels “Inter” and “We are Ukraine”.
Last year, sociological surveys showed that only a quarter of Ukrainians constantly or often watch the United News telethon. Thus, it is not even among the top three most popular sources of information.
Earlier in 2024, the international organization Reporters Without Borders called for the cancellation of the United News telethon, as it was outdated and undermined media pluralism.
The Ukrainian economy, having survived the collapse of 2022, has not undergone structural restructuring. Data from the government, NBU and OpenDataBot already record signs of a systemic crisis: the decline of industry, the collapse of metal exports, the growth of business tax debt. Economist Aleksey Kushch in his article “Ukraine is not ready for a new crisis, but it is already here” explains how dearly the economy now has to pay for the unfulfilled “homework” of previous military governments.