History
The ZIK news agency was established in the summer of 2004. It is the first Internet agency in Western Ukraine. The channel first went on air on September 1, 2010. At that time, the program network had six projects of its own production. Broadcasting was carried out with a center in Lviv, mainly to Western Ukraine.
Since November 1, 2010, the channel has been broadcasting on the network of the Ivano-Frankivsk regional television "Halychyna" from 9 pm to 12 am.
Since 2014, ZIK has begun the transition to the nationwide level, expanding the line of author's projects to 20. The basis of most of them, as before, remained the genre of journalistic investigation.
On March 12-13, 2014, the channel held teleconferences with 112 Ukraine and Donbas TV channels.
The channel's projects originated from the ZIK-Lviv and ZIK-Kyiv studios (opened on May 25, 2014). In early October 2016, the official presentation of the new central ZIK studio took place in the Zhovtnevy Palace (Kyiv).
On October 3, 2016, the channel began broadcasting instead of the Dobro TV channel on the DVB-T2 network. On February 16, 2017, the channel became all-Ukrainian.
In January 2018, the channel's management announced pressure and threats, in particular from one of the people's deputies from the Popular Front, the pretext for which was an interview with the former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Portnov.
Until June 2019, the owner was Petro Dyminsky, later the channel was bought by politician Taras Kozak, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin's godfather, Viktor Medvedchuk. After the change of ownership, the channel's information policy has taken on a distinctly anti-Ukrainian, pro-Russian orientation, which has led to the resignation of a number of leading journalists.
According to Ulyana Feshchuk of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting, the channel was purchased by a front person, so the Council was unable to officially link the new owner to politician Medvedchuk. Despite this, the public perceives the change of ownership as the channel's transfer under Medvedchuk's control and into the service of Russia. In particular, journalist Semen Kabakayev assessed the change of ownership as a real threat of increased Russian propaganda:
Ukrainians will not just be waiting for pro-Russian content, but also for information and psychological operations, information campaigns, and the imposition of a Russian narrative.
After the channel changed its political orientation, due to disagreement with the change of course, Olga Movchan, Roman Nedzelsky, Tetyana Vergeles, Vakhtang Kipiani and others left the channel. Kipiani wrote the following about the termination of cooperation with ZIK:
…for more than 6 years, the program “Historical Truth-ZIK” was broadcast. We made about 500 episodes. As the author and host of the program, I announce that the program is being closed. Medvedchuk is an enemy of my country, a murderer of both the past and the future.
In 2010–2019, when it was owned by Petro Dyminsky, the channel produced Ukrainian-centric content and did not cause any complaints in Ukrainian society. However, in 2019–2021, the channel’s content was described as anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian, and it was considered one of the leading pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian TV channels in Ukraine at that time
Since June 14, 2019, the channel has been part of the media holding "Novyny", which also includes the TV channels "112 Ukraine" and "NewsOne".
On September 5, 2019, the Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting recorded violations of the law "On Television and Radio Broadcasting" on the channel's airwaves, and an unscheduled inspection of the channel was scheduled.
On May 13, 2021, the channel was fined for calls for violence against politicians on the airwaves of November 26, 2019.
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