His media company, Mediaset, controls the country's three main private channels, while his government oversees the three state-controlled channels.
The channels included Russia 1, Russia 24 and ORT - some of the most popular state-controlled channels - which were broadcasting clips of Putin's TV phone-in.
Millions of ordinary Arabs are turning to the channel for their news while their infuriated rulers turn to the Qatari government for an explanation.On the Middle East's state-controlled channels, the news is turgid.
Some broadcasts on the evening news led with the new charges against Mr. Navalny — notable in itself, since until recently state-controlled channels have avoided showing him — juxtaposed with video of a spring protest that turned violent.
The sheer volume of different state-controlled channels is overwhelming.
Fifteen years later, the result is a monochrome landscape of state-controlled channels that mouth the same anti-Western rhetoric without a word of criticism for the president.
One of the two state-controlled channels, Rossiya 1, broadcast a video report on the rally by United Russia's youth wing, Molodaya Gvardiya ("The Young Guard"), in central Moscow under the slogan "Clear Victory".
In a report on Russia's state-controlled Channel One, the anchor said Sharapova had "shocked millions of fans".
Only the state-controlled channel, RTR, was allowed to cover the belated meeting, in the closed port of Vidyayevo, between the president and the relatives.
The most widely watched television station, the state-controlled Channel One, which once belonged to Berezovsky, followed a bulletin about his death with a summary of his suspected crimes, including siphoning off millions of dollars from the national airline Aeroflot.
