Newspaper: Russia's Public Television could go online in May 2013

MOSCOW - Russia's Public Television could go online several months beyond the initially set date of January 1, 2013, due to purely technical reasons, the daily Kommersant writes on Thursday.

Details were provided to the newspaper by Anatoly Lysenko, the Russian Public Television's general director, who was appointed to this post by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

"The official date is January 1. But I doubt the schedule will be met. The reasons are purely organizational and technical. Technologically, this television channel could go online in May 2013," Lysenko said.

There is no clarity thus far how the channel will work. Under initial plans it was to be based on Zvezda television, owned by the Defense Ministry. But the military is in no haste to surrender this television channel, the newspaper writes.

No other frequency is being considered, except Zvezda's, Lysenko said. "The simple reason is no new frequency exists. The choice remains unchanged," he said.

Lysenko did not comment on who will be invited to join the team, or when the television channel's supervisory council could be formed