Gov’t increases budget allocations for National TV and Radio Company in 2025

On December 24, the law "On the State Budget of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2025" was adopted, allocating over 881 billion UZS (around $68.1 million) to the National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan (MTRK), with more than 107 billion UZS (around $8.3 million) designated for the purchase of mobile television stations specifically for broadcasting football tournaments.

Additionally, around 20 billion UZS (around 1.5 million USD) will be allocated for the expenses of switching the "O‘zbekiston 24" and "Mahalla" TV channels to full HD format for broadcasting across the country, while 15 billion UZS (around $1.2 million) will be allocated for the design, construction, and equipping of facilities.

For reference, the state budget allocated 559.9 billion UZS (around $43.3 million) to MTRK for 2024, and 555.94 billion UZS (around $43 million) for 2023.

From January 1, 2025, a new channel named "Futbol TV" will start broadcasting football tournaments in Uzbekistan.

Journalist Davron Fayziyev reported that the channel will operate on the frequency of the currently active "Foreign Languages" channel.

Previously, from 2017 to 2022, the "Futbol TV" channel (a private TV channel) operated under the "UzReport" TV channel. However, the channel was closed in 2022 after it did not purchase any broadcasting rights for championships, and it was replaced with an entertainment channel.

In February 2024, Abdurashid Juraboyev was appointed as the chairman of the National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan. Prior to this, he had worked as the head of the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

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