Konstantin Ernst

In an interview with Afisha, as part of the project entitled ‘History of the Russian Media between 1989 and 2011’, Ernst said that he had met Alexander Lyubimov at an informal meeting and that the latter suggested him to try his hand in Vremya, a TV program run by the chief editorial office for children and adolescents of the Central Television of the USSR. Ernst worked in Vzglyad (English: "Outlook" ) for two years as an interviewer, scriptwriter and director.

In the past, Sofya Zaika had also dated Fyodor Boomer, better known as Kto DJ, and the photographer Timofey Kolesnikov. Sofya is also a close friend and protégé of Russian director and screenwriter Renata Litvinova who calls Sofya her ‘favorite actress’.

On January 13, 2017 Konstantin Ernst announced live in ‘OK na svyazi!’, a Russian online show, that Channel One Russia would not air Andrey Kravchcyuk's Viking in 2017, adding that this film was meant to be shown in movie theatres and that it would be most inappropriate to show it on a TV screen. At the same time, Viking was the first Russian movie that grossed 1.25 billion rubles, making it the third highest-grossing film in Russian history and the tenth highest-grossing film worldwide.

On September 4, 2017 Ernst said that Channel One Russia had no plans to put matches of the Russian Football Championship on its broadcast schedule, because "television is designed differently" and "it makes no sense to air some individual matches".

A number of Russian media sources announced on July 22, 2017 that Konstantin Ernst married Sofya Zaika, but there is no official confirmation of this marriage.

On February 10, 2016 Slava Taroshchina, columnist for Novaya Gazeta, highlighted in her article on Konstantin Ernst's 55th anniversary that "this time Vladimir Putin had not gone to Ostankino in person as it had happened five years earlier" and that "Katya Andreeva did not read in a blank voice the president’s congratulations message for the lack thereof". The article ended with the comment that "at 50, Ernst had a dozen of first-class personal projects, with its top-hit Prozhektorperiskhilton, whereas at 55, all Ernst had to offer is Urgant, balancing on the edge of the limit".

On December 22, 2016 Konstantin Ernst said in an exclusive interview to Gazeta.Ru that "user-generated content on the Internet refers mainly to gags and news, and only those who are able to aggregate their creative and financial resources to create a product can deal with all the system-based things. It's almost impossible to achieve that on one's own. Yes, you can shoot a film with your iPhone, but it'll still have nothing in common with mass production".

A remix of Khochesh' (Do you Want?), a song of the Russian singer Zemfira, was performed during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia, on February 7, 2014.

In response, Konstantin Ernst declared in the broadcast of Echo of Moscow on February 9, 2014 that he "had known Zemfira since the very beginning, when nobody knew her" and that he "had done very much for Zemfira and her career". He added that "Zemfira had breached her contract with REAL Records, a company that I was heading at that time, but I decided not to sue her". Under the circumstances, however, he would have to do that if she was going to sue him.

Following this, Zemfira's official representative Pavlo Shevchyuk said in an interview to Business FM that she would not sue Ernst for using her song Khochesh' (Do you Want?) without her consent. He also added that the message on the singer's official website, which had disappeared on the morning of February 10, 2014 was a means to express her discontent over the issue.

On July 21, 2014 the Russian version of Tatler announced that "Konstantin Ernst had definitely put his young girlfriend on the list of his social events", adding that "Sofya Zaika, former employee of the Ulyana Sergeenko fashion house, readily changed funny parties at Simach and audacious photo sessions for cultural receptions and timid remarks that are hardly audible from behind the TV titan’s shoulder".

Russian television circles learned about a relationship between 25-year-old Zaika and 52-year-old Ernst as early as the middle of 2013.

In his testimony given by the former head of the President's Office Alexander Voloshin at Her Majesty's High Court of Justice in England in the discussion of the lawsuit that Berezovsky had filed against Abramovich in 2011, Voloshin said that the CEO of ORT needed to get rid of Berezovsky's informal influence, hence pressure exerted on Berezovsky in 2000. According to Voloshin, after this Ernst set things straight.

In 2010, Ernst attempted to implement vertical integration into Russian television, a widespread approach in the United States and some European countries, which means new episodes of serials are aired once a week at a specific time. Vertical integration is, for a number of reasons, cost-effective for TV channels and series producers.

Spearheaded by Ernst on July 29, 2002, ORT shareholders voted, at their annual meeting, for the restoration of the TV channel's historical name, Channel One. Ernst explained this name change by a discrepancy between the channel's legal status and the notion of public television. Channel One Russia retained its right to the ORT trademark. Ernst was considering the possibility of using it as a venue for testing new projects and participating in competitions for broadcasting in decametric waves.

On September 3, 1999, following the resignation of Igor Shabdurasulov, who had been at the helm of ORT since October 1998, Ernst became the TV channel's interim CEO, while maintaining his post of executive producer.

As recommended by Shabdurasulov and with the support of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and Boris Berezovsky, the meeting of the ORT shareholders appointed Ernst new CEO of ORT on October 6, 1999. He continued to combine the roles of CEO and executive producer until July 2001, when Alexander Faifman became the new executive producer of ORT.

At the time of Ernst's appointment as CEO in Fall 1999, Berezovsky had de facto control of the channel's information policy through the Directorate of Information Programs, headed by his friend Tatyana Koshkaryova since Summer 1999.

In 1998, this acquaintance grew into a love relationship but was never to become an official marriage. It lasted until spring 2010, when Sinelshchikova put an end to it and moved from her upscale apartment on Povarskaya Street, where the couple had resided until then, to her own mansion in prestigious area of Moscow Oblast (a federal subject of Russia). Contrary to allegations in some American and British media, Konstantin Ernst and Larisa Sinelshchikova were never had common household and common business, assets or property.

On October 4, 1997 at a concert given by the Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki and dedicated to the premiere of his new musical composition. It was written at the personal request of the President and CEO of the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Company, Alexander Ponomarev, as part of celebrations commemorating Moscow's 850th anniversary.

On January 25, 1995 Vladislav Listyev was appointed CEO of ORT. A little over a month later, on the evening of March 1, Listyev was assassinated at the entrance of his apartment building.

Konstantin Ernst has three daughters. The elder daughter Alexandra, born in 1994 from his relationship with Anna Silunas (now lives in NYC, USA). His two younger daughters with Sofya Zaika (born in 2016 and 2017), whose names are kept in secret.

In 1989 Anatoly Lysenko, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the youth editorial office at the Central Television and head of Vzglyad, suggested that Ernst start working on his own show. Matador, a TV show on culture, significant events and creative people, premiered in January 1990.

Ernst spent his childhood and youth in Leningrad, where his father had been appointed Head of a new research center. Konstantin graduated from High School No. 35 located on the Vassilyevsky Island and in 1983 got a degree from the Biology and Soil Department of the Leningrad State University.

Some Russian media erroneously say Ernst the father of Larisa Sinelshchikova's children, Anastasia (born in 1983) and Igor (born in 1985).

Konstantin Lvovich Ernst (Russian: Константин Львович Эрнст ) (born February 6, 1961 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian media manager, producer and TV host. He is currently the CEO of Channel One Russia.