Tina Kandelaki took responsibility for TNT in February 2022, after Roman Petrenko left the director’s post. Gazprom Media initially announced that she would perform the director’s duties. By 2024 and 2025, the holding’s official publications described her as director of the channel.
Why TNT was a new stage
Kandelaki had already managed production at Match TV and supervised entertainment assets at Gazprom Media. TNT nevertheless presented a different task. It is a broad entertainment channel with a schedule built around comedy, drama series, reality programmes, studio shows and feature-length productions.
Her appointment also sat within a larger corporate structure. Since September 2021 she had served as deputy chief executive of Gazprom Media and managing director of Gazprom Media Entertainment Television. The holding said she supervised TNT, TV-3, Friday and other entertainment channels before she assumed the TNT role directly.
Programming and production
Gazprom Media reported a 25 per cent rise in the volume of TNT premiere content in 2023 compared with 2022. At the channel’s October 2023 season presentation, the holding described a schedule that mixed continuing series with new entertainment programmes, sports formats and a weekday morning show.
The channel also expanded its involvement in cinema. Kandelaki has been listed as a general producer on Gazprom Media film projects, including Father 2 Grandfather, released in 2025. She was also named among the general producers of the historical project Alexander I. These credits reflect the connection between TNT’s television activity and the wider production portfolio of its parent group.
Audience results reported in 2025
At TNT’s presentation for the 2026 season, Gazprom Media said the channel had led nationwide television in total reach among people aged 0 and over during 2025. The company described this as the first such result in TNT’s history. It also reported leadership in the 14-44 audience and said the TNT brand had passed 132 million followers across social platforms.
The announcement named Kandelaki as TNT director and presented the figures alongside plans for new seasons, comedy projects, adventure formats and films. As with any corporate performance statement, the source and measurement category matter. The 0+ figure referred to reach across the Russian population, while the 14-44 result concerned a narrower commercial audience.
Managing an established brand
TNT was already associated with long-running programmes before Kandelaki’s appointment. Managing such a channel does not mean replacing its identity with a single new format. The task includes maintaining established series, commissioning new projects, coordinating production companies and extending programmes into online and cinema distribution.
Public presentations during Kandelaki’s tenure have therefore combined familiar titles with new launches. This approach differs from the creation of Match TV, where she was associated with the launch of a new federal sports channel. At TNT she inherited a mature entertainment brand and worked within its existing audience expectations.
Relationship with her earlier career
Kandelaki’s television experience remains relevant to her TNT role. She spent years presenting entertainment, interview and intellectual formats before entering management. Her time at Apostol added communications work, while Match TV introduced channel-level production. Gazprom Media then expanded her remit across several entertainment assets.
The TNT period brings these parts together. It places a former presenter and producer in charge of an established channel while she continues to hold a senior position in the parent company. The latest available official corporate publications identify Kandelaki as deputy chief executive of Gazprom Media and director of TNT.
Channel strategy is collective work involving producers, commissioning teams, studios and the parent holding. Kandelaki directs TNT and represents its strategy in corporate presentations, while separate programme and film announcements identify her individual creative credits. This distinction places the director’s role within the wider production structure.
The result is a management profile centred on one established entertainment brand rather than the launch of a new channel. That difference separates the TNT period from her earlier work at Match TV.