Despite last-minute controversy, the Kremlin-backed team of the former TV-6 television station launched broadcasts today as planned.
Earlier, Russian media reported that the broadcasts would start with the new team's greeting to its audience, but the much-anticipated launch began with a children's classic adventure film as is customary for Russian television's regular weekend program.
A Thursday court ruling, which maintained that the earlier closure of the TV-6 network was illegal, and the lack of a proper contract between the new team and the Ostankino television center cast the broadcast in doubt until last night.
However, those issues were settled this morning, the new company's spokeswoman Tatyana Blinova was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying.
The shutdown in January of TV-6, Russia's last independent nationwide television station, gave the Kremlin effective control of the airwaves.