Continent television is the latest development owned by the satellite operator “Orion-Express”, the official website of the company is https://kontinent-tv.com/.
In the process of television broadcasting, exclusively updated DVB-S2 modulation and MPEG-4 compression options are used, allowing the rebroadcast of approximately 70 television channels, including channels with HDTV quality images. Television channels are shown in Irdeto encoding and linked to tuner numbering.
Consumers of the company's services will be able to independently choose the number of required television channels for broadcast, as well as the amount of the required monthly subscription fee.
In addition, 10 state television channels are included in the free package. The “Favorite” package includes thirty-two television channels. The price of such a kit costs 99 rubles for each month. The unlimited version of the kit contains more than 170 channels, with a monthly fee for use starting from 300 rubles. There are also certain subscriptions from the company for some specific kits.
Satellites and coverage, antennas, frequencies and transponders for tuning Continent TV
The satellite equipment is based on the Star-2 site, which includes 22 Ku-extension transponders. Transponder beams are directed towards the Middle East, Indian Ocean and the Russian Federation (4 devices with a 36 MHz band).
The satellite was launched into the sky on November 30, 2009 at approximately 12 am Moscow time. In geostationary orbit, Intelsat-15 replaced the heavily outdated Intelsat 709.
It is currently possible to receive channels belonging to the entire Russian Federation.
For reception, you need to purchase and install a satellite dish with a circumference of 60 centimeters for the central region of the country and up to 1.5 meters on the outskirts of the country. Everything will depend on the area where the owner of the TV is located.
Coverage map
To determine the antenna diameter, an existing map of the satellite signal coverage area for satellite television broadcasting (Intelsat 15 and Horizons 2) is used.
For example, throughout the Yekaterinburg region there is enough equipment in the “Supral 0.6” version, which is enough to ensure high-quality TV viewing.
To reliably receive a signal from a satellite in adverse weather conditions, it is possible to increase the antenna circumference to 0.8 or 0.9 meters. In this case, high-quality television signal reception will be 100% ensured in the city of Yekaterinburg under various weather conditions, including bad ones.
To receive the television package you will need the following devices:
- antenna from 60 cm and more;
- universal converter providing linear polarization;
- cable;
- satellite receiver;
- smart access card.
There are 2 basic modifications of receivers offered by Kontinent TV and manufactured by Coship:
- The receiver, which is made to standard resolution, is called CSD01/IR .
- CHD02/IR – equipment for watching TV, providing high quality HDTV, and allowing you to record programs to an external USB drive.
Receivers have 1 Irdeto decoder with the need to attach a decoding card to a specific numbered receiver (CSSN ID using Irdeto Secure Silicon technology).
Paid channels
“Favorite” tariff – up to 33 TV channels. Cost (per month, six months, year) – 170, 780 and 1188 rubles, respectively.
Thematic packages : “Cinema” (7 channels) and “Hobbies” (4 channels), “Men’s” (6 channels) - 100 rubles per month; “Music” and “Children’s” (3 channels each) – 75 rubles each.
“Unlimited” tariff (from 170 channels) – 399 rubles per month, 2388 rubles per year. (A subscription for a year is 2 times more profitable.)
Additional packages (2 channels) - from 30 to 149 rubles per month.
Continent TV channel packages
It is possible to watch a whole list of freely available channels:
- 1 channel;
- Russia 1;
- Russia 2;
- Russia 24;
- Russia K;
- Star;
- Home;
- Channel 5;
- STS;
- TV Center;
- RBC TV;
- many others, full list below.
Channels Continent TV
Setting up channels, connection, frequencies, transponders Continent TV
Currently, 2 transponders are used to configure the satellite:
12600 V DVB-S2 SR 30000 FEC 2/3.
Frequency provision – 12600 V Symbol rate – 30000 Error correction factor – 2/3 Selected viewing format – DVB-S2
12640 V DVB SR 30000 FEC ¾.
Set frequency – 12640 V Symbol rate – 30000 Error correction factor – 3/4 Broadcast format provided – DVB-S
To configure the antenna equipment you will need:
- wrenches (from 10 mm to 17 mm) or adjustable wrench;
- screwdriver No. 2 Phillips-shaped;
- felt-tip pen or pencil to place marks on the antenna device mount.
Step 1 Reconfigure the receiver
To do this, you need to set the required parameters in the receiver menu:
Transponders for Continent TV
Stage 2 Rotate the converter
- In Russia, turn the converter 2° clockwise.
- In the Urals, in Siberia by 3-4.
- In the Far East at 2.
Stage 3 Change the rotation of the antenna to the horizon of the rear plane
Turn the plate 5° to the left. Look at the antenna from the back of the “mirror”.
Stage 4 Change the antenna tilt angle in the vertical plane
Look at the device from the back of the “mirror”. In Russia, move the top of the antenna 2 cm away from you.
Make final settings
By adjusting the rotation of the antenna, achieve the maximum level of signal power and quality.
In “Manual search”, search for channels.
The numbers don't add up
But subscriber churn is not so bad. The experts we interviewed believe that the numbers on the subscriber base that Orion claims are inflated, and the situation is actually much worse. “According to our estimates, the outflow of Telekarta subscribers may be even greater than the company shows,” said Elena Krylova, project director at TMT Consulting.
Another Telesputnik interlocutor said that he also has questions about the subscriber base declared by Orion. According to his observations, if we recalculate the declared ARPU indicator, the declared revenue and the income structure demonstrated by the operator, the figures do not add up. “They don’t have 3 million subscribers, as they say, even if we use official statistics,” he insists.
When the company showed revenue and talked about the number of subscribers over the past few years, the ARPU indicator was always two times lower than the cheapest tariff
Another expert also questioned the adequacy of the number of subscribers that Orion claims. “It is obvious that the company has not been doing very well in the consumer market for a long time. I believe that their subscriber base has been declining for a long time. I even calculated how many active subscribers Telekarta should have based on their official press releases. When over the past few years they showed revenue and talked about the number of subscribers, the ARPU was always two times lower than the cheapest tariff. This indicates that half of the subscriber base there is “dead,” explained Telesputnik’s interlocutor. In his opinion, this is due to the fact that the company considers everyone who has ever been their subscriber and purchased equipment, even if he has not paid for the services for a long time. Apparently, this has now become so fatal that it can no longer be hidden, so they began to show a gradual outflow.
Indeed, if you make calculations by dividing the amount of Telekarta’s revenue for 2021 by the average ARPU, which, according to official information from Orion Group of Companies, is 288 rubles, you will get a little more than 2.4 million subscribers, which is already less than the declared 3 million.
In the structure of the portfolio of Orion Group of Companies based on the results of 9 months of 2021, the share of DTH services is 70%, the range of services to television broadcasters is 24%, the distribution of television channels is 6%, Kirill Makhnovsky told Tele-Sputnik.
“The company does not invest in product development. If you look at their basic package, it is very simple. It does not have some TV channels that all other operators have. And if you look at the cross-section of the audience that Orion published, we can conclude that their main consumer is retired summer residents who watch only the channels included in the first multiplex. This very much correlates with the hypothesis that the operator declares statistics on the number of subscribers, including a “dead” base - subscribers who watch mainly the first multiplex without buying a subscription,” says one of the experts.
Registration in your personal account, billing Continent TV
All new users will be able to register a personal account independently. To do this, you need to use the option of the same name on the official website. The procedure is done by entering the card number data to access the TV service. It will only take a few minutes. At the end, the specific client will be provided with unique data - login and password.
There are 3 ways:
- Office visit.
- Via the contact center phone number.
- Submitting an online application.
The easiest way to register is through the official website of the operator. To this end:
- you need to follow the link where the program asks you to enter your card number for access. Enter this number and click "Continue".
- fill in all the points in the form. You must provide correct information and then click “Register”.
- If everything is fine, a message indicating successful registration will appear on the display.
The password for logging into your personal account will be sent to the phone number specified in your account.
LK Continent TV
Connection nuances
What equipment is needed to connect Content TV? First of all, this is a Continent CSD-01/IR or Continent CHD-02/IR receiver with a CONTINENT TV access card, a converter with universal functions, a 60 cm satellite antenna (for the Urals and more distant areas - 80 cm).
Continent TV is constantly expanding the list of channels, of which sharing allows you to watch more than 40 for free, and cardsharing with payment will allow you to connect to a list of no less than 135 channels of various types - world cinema, sports, discoveries (packages about nature), erotic, etc. . These include all federal broadcasting channels, Carousel, Discovery Channel, Our New Cinema, World of TV Series, BST, RTG TV - this list can be continued for a long time.
FAQ
When will new HD channels appear?
Some HD channels already exist (list here https://kontinent-tv.com/hd-channel.htm). More new ones will be added soon, planned until the end of 2021. This will be announced in the HD Continent TV section (https://kontinent-tv.com/hd-television.htm).
When can I order an HD device in order to switch to Continent TV?
Already now there is such an opportunity to purchase a receiver.
How to pay for Continent TV?
To do this, you need to find the relevant information in the “Payment methods for Continent TV” section. https://kontinent-tv.com/oplata.htm
When can I pick up the receiver and subscribe to the Classic tariff?
In order to place an order for the receiver, you must first re-activate your existing card for Continent Television.
At the same time, there is no need to re-configure the antenna - it is activated for the so-called “universal satellite”.
Business in one hand
To begin with, we studied information about the company in open sources. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the founders of Orion Express LLC are: Prodinvest LLC (share in the authorized capital - 0.9%), Techno Express JSC (31%), Capital Trust Company Soyuz LLC "(19%) and private person Yuri Nikolaevich Khitrov (49.1%).
The latter is also the sole founder of Prodinvest LLC, which allows us to say that 50% of Orion Express is concentrated in one hand. At the same time, according to the Federal Tax Service (FTS), Prodinvest’s income and expenses, according to reporting for 2021, coincide up to the ruble. And the number of employees over the past year has decreased from seven to one person.
The second largest shareholder, Techno Express, has multimillion-dollar tax debts and is pledged to Roscosmosbank JSC. At the end of 2019, the company was put up for auction as a share in the authorized capital of Orion Express, but there were no people willing to purchase it (information about the auction No. 3112291 and the protocol of the results of the auction No. 1586-ZAOF/2 are at the disposal of Telesputnik ).
The last founder, STK Soyuz, showed a net loss of 2.034 million rubles at the end of 2021. (data from the Federal Tax Service) and is also pledged to JSC Roscosmosbank.
Thus, now of the founders of Orion Express, in fact, only one is wealthy and owns only 50% of the company.
As for the financial statements of Orion Express LLC, according to the Kontur.Focus service, the company’s revenue for 2021 amounted to 2.710 billion rubles, having decreased by 36.732 million rubles compared to 2018, and the net profit was RUB 50.051 million, which is RUB 21.123 million lower than a year earlier. At the end of 2021, the revenue of Telekarta LLC, which is 100% owned by Orion Express LLC, decreased by 145.601 million rubles compared to the end of 2018.
According to a Telesputnik source familiar with the situation, Orion Group of Companies has been looking for various options for preserving the business through sale for the last 2-3 years, but so far it has not been successful.
General Director of Orion Group of Companies Kirill Makhnovsky insists that even in the current difficult economic realities, the business of the group of companies has maintained its stability, which is reflected in financial indicators. “The B2B direction is actively developing, the client portfolio and product line are growing. At the moment, we are strategically focused on effectively diversifying our platform. At the same time, the Orion group of companies has never ruled out options for business development through mergers and acquisitions,” he emphasized.
