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.

ID (May 16, 1957-November 6, 1967)


Visuals: On a dark gray background, a light gray square is shown containing 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

are shown below the square.

Technique: Cel animation.

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

1st ID (1967-1974)
Visuals: On a striped sunburst background, a square frame is shown with a black silhouette of the Ostankino Tower inside of the frame. 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 ident, probably camera-controlled animation.

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

2nd ID (1969)
Visuals: On a black background, three unknown shapes are shown with the text "CCCP TB" to the right.

Technique: Unknown.

Audio: Unknown.

Availability: It only survives as a TV-DX capture.

3rd ID (1974-1982)


Visuals: On a yellow background, a circle-shaped panel of dark orange dots is shown, 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. Finally, 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. Some sources say this ident was introduced in 1976, but it is debatably due to unavailability of Soviet television archived content; if that was true, then the 1974 intro of TV USSR's news program Vremya would serve as basis for this ident.

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

Audio: A re-orchestrated tune from Muslim Magomayev called 'Solemn' or 'Torzhestvennaya'.

Availability: 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.

4th ID (December 1982-March 1991)
Visuals: On a light blue background with shades of white, a red star that has a tall and thin top can be seen, 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.

Audio: Same as the 2nd ID, albeit extended.

Audio Variants:
 * The still version had a short version of the fanfare, which plays 3 times.
 * The sign-off version has a string tune.

Availability: 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 ID.

4th ID (March-December 29, 1991)


Visuals: 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 ID). Then, the fully-formed Programme One logo slightly rotates to the right.

Technique: CGI.

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