First National Channel
 | |
| Type | Television network and online |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Founded | 1 February 2000 |
| Headquarters | Grodno |
Broadcast area | Waisnor |
Key people | Arseny Lepeshko (Director General) |
| Language | Belarusian, Russian |
| Replaced | Waisnorian Television |
First National Channel is the largest TV channel of Waisnor, part of Waisnorian Broadcasting Corporation (WBC). It was founded on 1st of February, 2000 to replace Waisnorian Television (WT). It can be described as semi-private, as part of FNC is partially funded by the government, but most of the revenue comes from advertising and parts of channel are owned by businessman.
History
First National Channel was launched on 1st of February, 2000, although seeds for the creation of this channel were placed in late 90's with the crisis that was happening on Waisnorian Television in form of financial troubles, obsolescence of equipment and almost complete absence of own production. On the first day of the new TV channel's operation, the country's President Maxim Pavlov promised that he and the government would not interfere with the channel's work. Many workers of WT switched to First National, including news anchor Pavel Bychkov. Almost immediately, the restructuring of the broadcasting network began - the channel's original products appeared (such as the social talk show "In the rhythm of life" and the crime series "Action Plan"), the quality of adaptation of Western TV series and the quality of filming have improved.
In 2001, First National acquired the rights to show "Simplemente María" and "Muñeca Brava". Despite critical skepticism about these shows, they were a huge success with the public and thanks to them, telenovelas became the dominant TV genre in the country. Subsequently, the First National will buy several more telenovelas, such as "Amigas y rivales" and began to produce their own, like "Life As It Is" and "Suburbanites". Also in 2001, First National became the first Waisnorian TV channel to switch to round-the-clock broadcasting.
In 2003, in connection with the acquisition of the status of the Russian official language, the First National launched the Russian version of the channel. Also appeared the publicistic program "In the lens", which in the 2000s was one of the most popular programs in the country.
During the Black Sunday coup d'état attempt, there was an attempt to storm the office of WBC, which was unsuccessful. Parallel to this, the First National reporters broadcast the situation in Grodno. After that, the channel took a more critical position towards President Vladislav Esipov. Also by this time the telenovelas in Waisnor had fallen into disrepair, and controversial episode of "Suburnanites" cemented fall of telenovelas. Soon, almost all telenovelas and soap operas were removed from the broadcasting grid and replaced with journalistic programs. In 2007, Pavel Bychkov left the channel and Kirill Morozov took his place as news anchor. In late 2000's First National began broadcast of main Western TV series of a time, like "Lost" and "Breaking Bad".
In 2009, the series "The Great Leader and Teacher" began, becoming the first television series by Weissor, made to world standards. The series began to collect huge ratings and caused controversy in society. Doctor Who, which began showing in August 2011, also helped the ratings of the First National. In 2012, the London Olympics brought great ratings to the TV channel, and in the same year WBC had a new chairman - Lazar Voznesensky left because of disagreements with other leaders, and Yegor Danilkin took his place. In 2013, the main projects of the this channel were mini-series - "Kalinovsky" based on the life of Konstantin Kalinovsky and timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Third Uprising for Independence and "Fathers and Sons", an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Turgenev.
2016 was the year of the end of "The Great Leader and Teacher", the departure of Kirill Morozov to NTV and the arrival of Maxim Mukhin as the main news anchor and the beginning of the country's main political show "Debriefing", where many problems are discussed quite sharply. In 2017, Yegor Danilkin decided to leave the post of CEO for seemingly no reason, but according to rumors, he left due to changes in the channel's program guide. He was replaced by Arseniy Lepeshko. Also in 2017, the thriller series "Keep Yourself" was released.
In 2020, the work of the channel was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, and in 2021 the show of the series "Another Life" began, which many already predict success.