Kristiina Rossman, spokesperson at Tallinn City Government, told ERR on Monday: "I can confirm right now that we have managed to reach an agreement with PBK to receive free airtime to broadcast the program called "Novosti Tallinn" ("Tallinn News"). The production of the program will be funded from the 2020 city budget."

The same program was already broadcasting on PBK from the end of March until May 28. The city government justified this with the need to inform the Russian-speaking audience during the coronavirus crisis. The show broadcasted from Monday to Thursday.

PBK beamed out its show free of charge to the city, and the programs were prepared by the Tallinn Television Foundation, which belongs to the Tallinn City Government. At the initiative of the foundation, a company called Subbmedia OÜ, which has been producing the program "Eesti uudised" ("Estonian News") for PBK for many years, was involved in the production of "Tallinna uudised" ("Tallinn News"). The show was aired on March 20.

Rossman told ERR's Russian-language news on Monday that Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) had already confirmed in early May that the city government was interested in continuing "Tallinn News", as city residents needed an additional Russian-language source of information both during and after the emergency situation.

In addition, the pandemic situation in the world does not give grounds for optimism, which is why updated and comprehensive information for city residents is clearly maintained.

The Russian-language "Tallinn News" will continue on PBK from August 24 to December 31. The programs will be broadcast from Monday to Thursday, a total of 71 news programs in Russian will be broadcasted.

Tallinn City Government previously ran the Tallinn TV channel, which was available nationwide, but this closed down in late 2019.

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