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TV investor: Dozhd channel likely to stop broadcasting in June

“If we were banned from entering the office, it would mean the end of our programming”, he said

MOSCOW, March 20, 22:18 /ITAR-TASS/. Notorious Dozhd TV channel’s lease of the office in Moscow’s Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) business centre expires on June 20 and this means it will get off the air, the Dozhd TV investor, Alexander Vinokurov, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The channel executives plan to to negotiate the lease extension.

“If we were banned from entering the office, it would mean the end of our programming,” he said. “But we’ll try to come to terms with the office owners.”

Vinokurov said the channel made no plans to move into another studio.

Earlier, the Dozhd investor wrote on his Facebook page that it would take at least 12-18 months to prepare a new office for the channel’s operations while the spending would total several million dollars. “We won’t be able to use most of the equipment we have at Krasny Oktyabr,” Vinokurov said.

On Thursday, March 20, the Dozhd management received a notification from the owner of the Krasny Oktyabr business centre that the sublease deadline would not be extended beyond June 20, 2014.

“We regret to inform you that the Myasnitskaya-35 company does not intend to prolong the leasing contract with your company upon the expiration of the current contracts,” the letter says.

“Dozhd hoped it wouldn't have to move into some other studio earlier than the year 2016 in connection with a scheduled reconstruction of the Krasny Oktyabr business centre,” Vinokurov said.