Government delegation headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Sergei Ivanov visited the plants of the Association "The General Satellite Corpora

Gousev, Kaliningrad region – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, head of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of Russian federation Igor Schegolev, Governor of the Kaliningrad region Georgy Boos visited the “Digital Television Systems Research and Production Association” enterprise – the Europe's largest production facility of subscriber set-top boxes – and "Prankor" factory, which produces television antennas and cases (the only factory with a such specialization in the North-West Russia). Both were built as a part of the “The area of scientific and technological development – Technopolis Gusev” Project, being implemented by the Radio-Electronic Equipment Manufacturers and Traders Association  of the Kaliningrad region "The General Satellite Corporation".

The Agreement on Cooperation in the development of broadcasting in the region were signed during the visit to the “Digital Television Systems Research and Production Association”, between the Government of the Kaliningrad region and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Broadcasting Network" (RTRS). Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and the Minister of Communications and Mass Media Igor Schуgolev attended the signing ceremony.

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said: - "We planned to start switching to digital broadcasting with the Far East regions only. But, thanks to this enterprise and regional authorities, which created a favorable climate for production and business expansion and committed itself to reduce the price of a receiver for low-income residents of the Kaliningrad region, all this gave us an opportunity to additionally include the Kaliningrad Region, without an increase in Federal expenditures, in the Federal Target Program "Development of digital broadcasting in Russia for 2009-2015 years" - that is what the Agreement signed today ultimately means."
  
During the tour, members of the government delegation visited the hi-tech manufacture of digital receivers, where they followed the process of assembling the equipment and saw several models of set-top boxes.
  
"I want to say that a private business here did very well indeed: without any federal support, with the help, of course, from the Kaliningrad region authorities, they created the enterprise and develop it successfully" - said Sergey Ivanov.

"Today we have seen assembled set-top boxes, which under certain conditions may be sold at retail at a cost of less than 1000 rubles apiece including VAT" - noted the Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Igor Schegolev.

After a tour of the shop floor, the President of the Corporation Andrey Tkachenko showed Sergei Ivanov, Igor Schegolev and Georgy Boos the capabilities of 3D broadcasting, the launch of which the General Satellite Corporation jointly with Samsung Electronics and "Platform HD" Broadcasting Project announced in early February 2010.

Sergei Ivanov noted that the Kaliningrad region has the best prospects in the development of 3D broadcasting, because the plant in Gousev is technically ready for the production of such receivers.

"The enterprise we saw is not just an assembling facility, but a production facility of a completely different league, because all the stuffing - microchips, software and hardware operating system for the device, the board - is developed by a domestic, Russian company" - shared his observations the Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov - "After all, if Samsung came here, this actually means two things: it has trust in quality of the production, otherwise it would has never associated its name - large companies care about their reputation, believe me, sometimes a lot more than about an income. So, this enterprise becomes internationally recognized for the quality of its products."

Andrey Tkachenko, the president of the General Satellite Corporation, said: - "The visit of the government delegation and the kind words addressed to our Corporation show that our work is highly appreciated. We are ready to participate in the further implementation of the Federal Target Program "Development of digital broadcasting in Russia for 2009-2015 years" and will continue to offer new engineering design solutions on domestic and international television market."