Kremlin-friendly oil company Surgutneftegaz is bidding for a 35 percent stake in REN TV, one of Russia's last independent television stations, a company spokeswoman told Interfax news agency on Friday. Raisa Khodchenko, a spokeswoman for Russia's fourth-largest oil company, told Interfax that Surgut had put in a bid to buy the stake. "We're interested in investing in the media business," she said.
Surgut officials could not be reached for immediate comment.
Moscow-based REN TV, reaching 97 million Russians, is the last large station openly critical of President Vladimir Putin, and media analysts predicted that the change of ownership would make it more compliant ahead of the 2008 presidential elections.
Two radio stations and a few newspapers remain independent, but analysts say their days may be numbered as the state expands its hold over the media prior to the December 2007 parliamentary and 2008 presidential elections.
In July, Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES) sold a 70 percent stake in REN TV to Severstal Group, owner of Russia's second-largest steelmaker, for $100 million. German media giant Bertelsmann unit RTL bought the remaining 30 percent from the channel's founders.
All other major Russian networks are owned or indirectly controlled by the state and air favourable reports about Kremlin policies.
The influential NTV television network, once fiercely critical of the Kremlin and a bastion of the non-state-controlled media, was eventually wrested by the state from its owner, media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky.
State natural gas giant Gazprom recently acquired a controlling stake in Izvestia, one of the few remaining independent newspapers. Its media arm already owns Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy and NTV.
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