CT USSR Programme One

Background
CT USSR Programme One was the main and first television channel of the Soviet Central Television, established on March 22, 1951. It had a mixed schedule of news and entertainment, with the emphasis on events in the Soviet Union, and also included regional programming. In September 1991, it was renamed as CT Channel One, and on December 29, 1991, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it became Channel 1 Ostankino, which is known as Channel One Russia today.

(1951-1967)


Logo: On a dark gray background, we see a light gray square with a black sketch of the Shukhov tower that generates radio waves, which is represented by white circle outlines. The letters "Ц" and "Т" are displayed inside the gray square to the left and right of the tower respectively in a black, bold, and tall font that takes up the entire height of the square. The white words "ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЕ ТЕЛЕВИДЕНИЕ СССР" (each on its own line & standing for "Central Television of the USSR") appear below the square.

Technique: Neat cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A string tune with bells. It often has an announcer saying something in Russian.

Availability: Extinct on Television.

1st ID (1967-1974)
Logo: On a striped sunburst background, we see a square frame with a silhouette of the Ostankino Tower in black inside. On the frame is the text

ЦЕ̄НТРАЛЬНО̄Е

ТЕ̄ЛЕВЍДЕ̄НЍЕ

all in white. We also see a text which depends of the programme (for example, "ПЕРВАЯ ПРОГРАММА" with the First Programme, and "ТРЕТЬЯ ПРОГРАММА" with the Third Programme) in front of the tower in black.

Technique: Unknown, but according to the available captures of this logo, probably camera-controlled animation.

Music/Sounds: A trumpet fanfare, same as the one that would be used in 1980s.

Availability: Extinct on Television.

2nd ID (1974-1982)


Logo: On a yellow background, we see a circle-shaped panel of dark orange dots, with the stacked name "TB CCCP" on its upper side and a spinning globe at its bottom. As the name fades out, the globe "transmits" waves of various circles in different colors, raging from them being orange-shaded to aqua. As the last circle being black fills the panel, it reveals having the stacked name of the channel: 1 ПРОГРАММА in orange dots. And then, it crossfades into a plain white text.

Trivia: The Ident mentioned is also serve as basis for the 1974 intro of TV USSR's news program Vremya.

Technique: Cel animation for the dot animation and live action for the globe.

Music/Sounds: A happy-sounding theme.

Availability: Again, extinct on Television. This ident, alongside with the ending of the 1979 Vremya intro, would also appear at the beginning of the 10th episode of the 1980 BBC show Russian Language and People.

3rd ID (1982-March 1991)
Logo: On a light blue background with shades of white, we see a red star that has a tall & thin top, with the Russian name "TB CCCP" (with "TB" in white and "CCCP" in red) below it. Then, white rings representing radio waves come out from the star. Then the text crossfades into the channel's name 1 ПРОГРАММА.

Variants:
 * A still version exists on some programs, with lighter shades of blue, and containing only the channel's name "1 ПРОГРАММА".
 * For sign-offs, it plays in reverse.

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 2nd logo. The still version had a short version of the fanfare, which plays 3 times. The sign-off version has a string tune.

Availability: Once again, extinct on Television. During the time however, it was commonly used during the sign-on and sign-off sequences.

Legacy: This is probably the most well-known Soviet TV logo.

4th ID (March-December 29, 1991)


Logo: On a dark blue background, a cyan ring zooms in to the center of the screen, as three light purple rings zooms out too, and two light-purple diagonal lines slide near the rings. The cyan ring zooms in off-screen and the lines slide away. Meanwhile, five thin parallelepipeds slide to the center of the screen and zoom out. Then the acronym "цm" (the letter "Т" is depicted as a Latin "m") zooms out, alongside with two parallelepipeds, above and below respectively. As they slowly slide down, the light purple ring behind fades out, and more parallelepipeds slide to above them, forming a stylized "1" (and looking a lot like the ARD logo). Then, the fully-formed Programme One logo slightly rotates to the right.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: An excerpt from "Equinoxe Pt. 1" by Jean-Michel Jarre is heard.

Availability: Also extinct on television.