Channel One scraps plans to host Star factory in Cyprus

THE producer’s of Russia’s hit talent show, Star Factory, have scrapped their plans to hold the next show in Cyprus.
Sergei Andron, of SB Exclusive One Cyprus, who would have promoted the show here, said on Friday that the contract would instead go to Disney, which is expected to use the existing exclusive advertising rights to promote a Russian spin off of their popular High School Musical series.
Yiannos Georgiades, legal counsel for Andron, was clearly disappointed yesterday
“This is a shocking development for Cyprus and they have lost a very good opportunity,” he said. “Channel one gave the show to Disney because they could not wait any longer for Cyprus to reach a decision.”
He said that a concerted campaign to block the show by local media had cast a shadow over the plan, and caused unnecessary delays. “At the end of the day, it shows some people were more clever than us.”
The decision will no doubt disappoint the Cyprus Tourist Organisation who witnessed an 8.4 per cent decrease in tourist arrivals year-on-year in November. Georgiades said that they were enthusiastic about the plan and were still trying to negotiate a lower price when the plan was axed. “We looked at co-hosting it with Disney, but they offered us an unrealistically high price.”
At a cost of €6 million the show would have taken half of the CTO’s budget. In return, however, they would have had two daily adverts during the three month show, and an additional two months of advertising either side. “No one can guarantee it would have been a success, but it would have reached 66 million fanatic viewers daily.” Georgiades said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.