RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

9.     RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Transactions of continuing operations:

        Telcrest—Telcrest Investments Limited, a Cypriot company ("Telcrest"), became one of the Company's principal stockholders in June 2011. Dividends declared to Telcrest amounted to $24,916, $27,684 and $6,921 in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2014 and 2015, dividends declared to Telcrest of $27,684 and $6,921, respectively, were blocked pursuant to the US sanctions described in Note 5.

        Modern Times Group MTG AB ("MTG")—Dividends declared and paid to MTG Russia AB amounted to $37,806, $42,006 and $10,502 in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

        Xenon Capital Partners—On July 28, 2015, the special committee of the Company's board of directors engaged Xenon, a financial advisory firm, as its financial advisor to assist the special committee in reviewing, analyzing and executing the sale and merger transactions described above. Natasha Tsukanova, the Co-Chairman of the Company's board of directors, who was originally appointed to serve on the Company's board of directors by MTG pursuant to the stockholders agreement that was then in place between our two largest stockholders and the Company, is a founder and managing director of Xenon. The amount of financial advisory services provided by Xenon in 2015 totaled $1.5 million.

Transactions of discontinued operations:

        Transactions with Entities Related to Telcrest—Certain beneficial owners of Telcrest have investments in Russian media businesses, including indirect ownership interests in Channel One, REN-TV, TRK 5 and Art Pictures (which are not targets of international economic sanctions). In 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Company's Russian businesses acquired program content from these entities, of approximately $11.5 million, $18 million and $15 million, respectively.

        In September 2015, Telcrest informed the Company that, as a result of two transactions with third parties relating to its share capital, it was no longer 50% or more owned, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate by one or more Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons, including Bank Rossiya (see Note 2).

        Transaction with WeiT Media—The Company has entered into several production agreements with WeiT Media, a television production house that is 49% owned by Timur Weinstein, a member of the Company's Board of Directors. The total amount paid to WeiT Media was approximately $5.5 million in 2014 and $3.4 million in 2015.

        Transactions with Entities Related to Modern Times Group MTG AB—The Company enters into certain transactions with the MTG group for the sale of program rights. For the year ending December 31, 2015, these transactions amounted to approximately $0.6 million.