In 1994, Channel Six Petersburg began expanded outside St. Petersburg. Some local stations began rebroadcast that station: Telesphere, AMTV, Zenit, TSM Channel 10. In December 1996, AMTV went into financial crisis, most of founders had left. It later joins StoryFirst Communications. AMTV later joins those stations, leading to created STS. STS was launched on 1 December 1996. In 2002, Alexander Rodnyansky became General Director of the STS. During the period of his leadership the ratings of the channel showed a quick and significant increase. 2006 - the best year in the history of STS. Then the average share of the channel's audience reached the highest level - 10.4%. In 2007 STS switched to round-the-clock broadcasting. In 2008 Vyacheslav Murugov became the General Director of STS. Murugov created many successful original Russian TV projects. December 21, 2009 - start broadcasting international version of the channel - "STS International". December 14, 2012 - STS entered the second multiplex of digital television of Russia. February 1, 2019 - STS switched to a 16:9 broadcast format. November 2019 - the HD version of the TV channel started broadcasting. Today STS is a leading entertainment network in Russia. Focusing on entertainment, STS broadcasts a mix between Russian productions and international programming of interest to its target audience, viewers aged 10–45, especially younger audiences. Approximately 100 million people are within STS’s signal reach. In 2019, STS achieved an average audience share in its target demographic of 9.45%. It ranks as the sixth most watched nationwide broadcaster in Russia overall. STS network reaches approximately 96% of urban households. The STS Network currently has about 350 affiliates, including 19 owned-and-operated stations.
Russian series
STS Media works with the leading Russian TV content production companies. In autumn 2003, the channel launched a line of domestic television series. Since then, many successful TV series came out on the channel. STS airs both licensed series and sitcoms, such as My Fair Nanny, Who rules in this house?, Not Born Beautiful, Voronin's Family, Margosha, Private school. Among original Russian series and sitcoms: Poor Nastya, Cadets, Daddy's Daughters, Ranetki, Kitchen, Eighties, The Junior Team, Two Fathers, Two Sons, Londongrad, Ivanov-Ivanov, 90's. Fun and loud. In the 2010s, the number of licensed series decreased. The management of the channel relies on original Russian projects.
Foreign films
STS Media maintains close working relationships with all the major Hollywood studios. It shows European and Hollywood films.
Russian films
STS Media participated in the shooting and promotion of many Russian films: The 9th Company, Piter FM, Heat, Dark Planet, Hooked on the Game, All Inclusive, Have Fun, Vasya!, Ice, Yolki 7, Invasion and others.
Russian shows
Among the most successful shows:
comedy show - Good jokes, Thank God You're Here, Ural dumplings
sketch show - 6 frames, You go, teens!
infotainment - Galileo, Movies in details, Stories in Details, Infomania
Cartoons from the collections of the Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Viacom, and others, make up an important part of CTC's daily programming. Every day a time slot from 06:00-09:00 is exclusively given to animated series such as Timon and Pumbaa, The Woody Woodpecker Show, TaleSpin, Tom and Jerry, Speed Racer, Aladdin, The Real Ghostbusters, Winx Club, Scooby-Doo, DuckTales, Chip 'n DaleRescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Bonkers, and others. Also STS shows Soviet cartoons and Russian animated series such as Kikoriki, Novators, Alisa Knows What to Do!, Kid-E-Cats, Floogals.
Foreign series
In the 1990s and 2000s STS’s programming mix included a wide variety of popular foreign series like Charles in Charge, Quantum Leap, Sliders, Kommissar Rex, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Charmed, Smallville, Heroes, The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck, Lizzie McGuire, Hannah Montana, Time Trax and Doctor Who. Series by Hollywood producers were an important part of STS’s brand. Those shows enjoyed outstanding audience appreciation. While Russian audiences in general prefer Russian-made series, through creative marketing STS has achieved higher ratings for Hollywood-made series than other free-to-air broadcasters. STS director of comedy in 2009, Kostya Naumochkian, appears in the documentaryExporting Raymond, about the efforts of Everybody Loves Raymond series creator Phil Rosenthal to adapt that show into a Russian version called Voronini for Russian TV.
