TV-6 will be remembered for its combative style and a view opposing governmental policy – whatever the policy was and whether or not it had been thoroughly researched. Not everybody could receive it; in Volgograd, it was not easy to get the signals. The focus groups observed the death throes of TV-6. One day, after a long struggle, it just disappeared from the screen, replaced by all-day sports. With TV-6 gone, there was still REN-TV, a small Moscow-based station that could be received in some 30 percent of the country. In Moscow, it was increasingly known for independent and balanced news, but the independent leadership of the station – the founder Irena Lesnevskaya and her son Dmitry – were helpless to prevent the loss of their station after the major investor had pulled out. Seventy percent of REN-TV's shares were initially bought by Severstal, a steel company close to the President, and Bertelsmann, the German publishing and communications giant, which accounted for about a quarter of the shares.

On January 22, 2002, if a viewer sat down to watch TV-6, she would see sports. She might use a remote or push buttons on the set to find it, but it would be gone as though it had never been. The decision about what, ultimately, would be on this frequency was postponed, but one thing was sure: TV-6 was not coming back. All sixteen focus groups were convened between January 14 and January 28 of that year.