The new Television Channel—ANEWZ—was launched in early November with the slogan Global Media Voice From Baku To The World. While most local news websites and TV channels reported the launch of the new TV, even a media tour was organized for the newsroom of ANEWZ.
On 4 November, ANEWZ started broadcasting programs only in English with presenters originally from different countries. Meanwhile, the TV’s owner and financial source haven’t been disclosed. A week after its launch, ANEWZ was selected as a media partner of COP29, which is being held in Azerbaijan right now. So, what is this new channel, and by whom is it owned? Mikroskop Media investigated!
What do we know so far?
“ANEWZ” means “news from A to Z” and the executive director is a well-known person in Azerbaijan, who is a former deputy chairman of the State TV Channel Aztv, Rufat Hamzayev. He worked in this position between 2020-2024.
According to the media reports on AnewZ the TV channel has;
- Employees in 12 countries
- Broadcast in 110 countries
- Collaboration with media experts from UK, USA and Spain
- One of the aims is the development of English language reporting in Azerbaijan
- The focus region is the South Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East
Newsroom includes:
Guy Shone – Editor-in-chief. He is a journalist specialising in economics. Before that, he was the head of “Euronews” office in Qatar. Guy is also the host of The Business on ANEWZ.
Nadiya Dermanska – Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Nadiya worked for various Ukrainian media outlets from Brussels between 2009-2013. She worked on “Euronews” and “Freedom TV” channels in Ukraine.
Orkhan Amashov – Presenter. Orkhan is the son of Aflatun Amashov, a member of the Management Board of the Press Council of Azerbaijan, and is the host of the “Dialogue of Civilizations” program on “ANEWZ”.
Orkhan Amashov previously worked at caliber.az, a media outlet close to the government of Azerbaijan. He made speeches defending the position of Azerbaijan on the eve of the installation of blog posts in the Lachin corridor of Azerbaijan.
Anastasiya Lavrina – presenter . Anastasia is the first deputy chairman of the Russian Community of Azerbaijan and a member of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) Youth Union. She is the author of the film titled “How does Armenian lobbying work in France?”. Lavrina was one of those who supported the “ecoaction” organised by the government.
Although Anastasia Lavrina is presented as the deputy head of the Russian community, the state news agency AzerTAg represents her as a political scientist and she comments against France. Lavrina is a presenter of “Inside Politics” at ANEWZ.
Who is the owner of the channel?
According to Azerbaijani legislation, TV channels are required to get a licence from the Audiovisual Council of Azerbaijan. One of the latest competition results of the Audiovisual Council was announced in October 2024. According to the council’s decision the licence was awarded to “ANEWZ”.
The council’s decision made it possible to find out the founding company of the TV channel.
“Considering that it has superior technical capabilities compared to other bidders and the economic justification presented by it, “CIBC Global” Limited Liability Company (the name of the television editorial office: “AnewZ”) should be declared the winner of the competition, the platform broadcaster that implements satellite broadcasting.” – mentioned in the decision.
The decision of the Audiovisual Council also states that CIBC LLC must pay the fee of 2,500 manats (around 1470 USD) for this licence within 5 days. This should not be difficult for CIBC LLC, because 2,500 manats is quite a small amount compared to the authorised capital of the company.
According to the registry data of the State Tax Service, CIBC LLC was established on June 11, 2024. The legal representative of the company is Rufat Hamzayev, executive director of AnewZ.
In the beginning, the capital of the company was 5 million manat (around 2,9 million USD) while in 4 months it increased to 11 million manat (around 6,4 million USD). The address where the company was registered is the same as SOCAR’s structural unit – Azneft Production Union (PU) and two companies that were established by SOCAR. Those companies are SOCAR West Management Complex LLC registered in 2016 and Oil Rocks Drilling Company LLC which was registered in 2020.
“As a structural unit of the SOCAR Azneft Production Union (PU) involved in different fields like the development of fields included in the company’s balance sheet, the operation of 2 gas storage areas in the country, the purification of gas supplied to consumers etc.
Local media outlets also reported on CIBC LLC’s establishment back in July, however some of those coverages have been deleted. The report titled “SOCAR establishes new company with about $3 million capital” was published by pro-government media organisation caliber.az and hasn’t been deleted yet. Report News Agency had covered the same report with the same title, but it was deleted.
Although it seems that the real owner of the TV channel is SOCAR, it has not been officially disclosed so far. However, currently, SOCAR is an owner of three TV channels Khazar TV, CBC Sport and CBC Azerbaijan.
On November 11 it was announced that ANEWZ became the media partner of COP29, while there is one more Azerbaijani TV channel CBC.
