Mening Yurtim (MY5)

Mening Yurtim, known as MY5, is a major Uzbek family-and-entertainment television channel. It began test broadcasting on 12 November 2014 and entered full service the following month, marking its tenth anniversary in 2024. The channel broadcasts around the clock, principally in Uzbek, with some Russian-language and occasional English-language content. Its schedule combines entertainment, drama, music, films, educational programmes, news and public-affairs output. MY5 is operated by Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari LLC. MY5’s institutional page describes it as a family channel aimed particularly at younger audiences and identifies both entertainment formats and news, socio-political, economic and cultural programming.

Media assets

Television: MY5

The channel produces drama serials, entertainment and discussion formats, news programmes and other in-house content.

Ownership and governance

MY5 is operated by Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari LLC. A corporate-data record dated June 2025 lists the Central Council of the Youth Union of Uzbekistan as holding 61 per cent and the National Association of Electronic Mass Media as holding 39 per cent.

The Youth Union is legally constituted as a non-state youth organisation but is closely integrated into the implementation of state youth policy and works in cooperation with government institutions. Journalists in Tashkent interviewed by State Media Monitor in February 2026 said that, although the Union is formally registered as a non-governmental organisation, it is in practice indirectly controlled by state officials. State Media Monitor therefore treats the Union as a state-managed owner for classification purposes. The National Association of Electronic Mass Media is a separate legal entity. Firdavs Abdukhalikov founded MY5 and formerly chaired the Association, but State Media Monitor did not identify evidence that he personally holds its 39 per cent share. He left the Association’s leadership in 2022, according to contemporaneous reporting.

Presidential Resolution PQ-4768 of 30 June 2020 supported proposals to transfer state and organisational stakes in several youth-oriented media outlets to the Youth Affairs Agency and to establish Youth Media Holding. A subsequent draft implementing resolution proposed transferring the existing 61 per cent interest in Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari to that structure. State Media Monitor could not establish that the proposed transfer was completed. Later corporate records continue to identify the Youth Union as the majority shareholder and report no direct state share.

The available databases are secondary corporate-information services rather than an official shareholder extract. A company-data record updated in September 2026 continues to show two shareholders and a largest holding of 61 per cent, and expressly reports that no direct state share was found.

Leadership information is also inconsistent. A corporate record updated in September 2026 names Faxriddin Karimov as manager of Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari, while older material identifies Qobuljon Akhmedov as MY5’s director-general.

Source of funding and budget

MY5 operates as a substantial commercial broadcaster and sells television advertising. Open-source financial analysis reports that Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari generated approximately UZS 86.225 billion in revenue and UZS 1.305 billion in net profit in 2025.

The published figures do not disclose the composition of that revenue. State Media Monitor therefore could not establish what proportion came from advertising, sponsorship, content production or other activities.

No direct state-budget appropriation comparable to the allocation for the National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan was identified. This does not establish that MY5 receives no public money: a 2022 procurement record documents a production-services contract between the Youth Affairs Agency and Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari worth approximately UZS 949.35 million.

Editorial independence

MY5 has a predominantly family, youth and entertainment-oriented identity, but it also produces news and socio-political programming. The channel should therefore not be described as avoiding political content altogether.

Several structural features raise concerns about editorial independence. The majority shareholder recorded in the available corporate data is the Youth Union, an organisation closely integrated into implementation of state youth policy. MY5’s published staff structure has also included an adviser responsible for promoting state youth policy and the President’s five initiatives.

These factors indicate institutional alignment with government priorities, but they should be distinguished from direct evidence of intervention in particular editorial decisions. State Media Monitor identified no independent governing body, protected editorial appointment process or published editorial charter capable of insulating the newsroom from shareholder influence.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published MY5 policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure, and could not establish the extent to which AI is used in production.

Classification rationale

MY5 remains classified Captured Public or State Managed/Owned Media (CaPu).

It is majority-owned by a state-managed organisation. Available corporate data identify the Central Council of the Youth Union of Uzbekistan as the 61 per cent shareholder and the National Association of Electronic Mass Media as holding 39 per cent. The Union is formally registered as a non-governmental organisation, but journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in Tashkent in February 2026 said it is indirectly controlled by state officials, and it is closely integrated into the implementation of state youth policy. On that basis its holding satisfies the public or state-managed ownership condition.

The previously published account of a 61 per cent government stake acquired by Youth Media Holding is not supported. Presidential Resolution PQ-4768 of 30 June 2020 endorsed proposals for such a transfer, but State Media Monitor could not establish that it was completed, and later corporate records report no direct state share. The classification therefore rests on indirect state control of the majority shareholder rather than on direct government ownership.

MY5 is not shown to be predominantly state-funded, which is the condition distinguishing this classification from State-Controlled. It has substantial commercial revenue, reported at approximately UZS 86.225 billion in 2025, and no direct state-budget appropriation comparable to the allocation for the National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan was identified. Payments from state bodies exist — a 2022 Youth Affairs Agency production contract worth approximately UZS 949.35 million is documented — but available evidence does not demonstrate that direct state support accounts for at least half of annual funding.

Its editorial autonomy is not institutionally protected. The majority shareholder is integrated into state youth policy and indirectly state-controlled, the channel has maintained a senior position dedicated to promoting government youth policy and presidential initiatives, and no independent governing body, protected editorial appointment process or published editorial charter was identified. The freedom and anti-censorship provisions of the Law on Mass Media are relevant formal protections without an enforcement mechanism.

The ownership and editorial conditions of the State Media Matrix are met while the funding condition is not, which places MY5 in the captured rather than the state-controlled category.

September 2026