Maestro TV Claims Blocked from Airing in Town of Rustavi
Mamuka Glonti, an owner and top executive, of Tbilisi-based Maestro TV station said he had been assured by a local cable television provider in town of Rustavi that it would resume airing Maestro TV on June 1.
Tori, which is a cable television provider in Rustavi, a town close to Tbilisi, stopped transmitting Maestro TV through its network on May 30. Maestro TV blamed pressure from the authorities on the company; but the latter cited “technical problems.”
Transmission of the Maestro TV was suspended in Rustavi last week for few days because of technical problem attributed to damaged modulator; but it was resumed again after the television station itself provided Tori with a new modulator.
On May 30, however, Mamuka Glonti announced through his television that he was contacted by an employee of the Rustavi cable network provider, who told him that the company was forced to stop airing Maestro TV, because of the authorities’ pressure.
“This is yet another attempt to restrict free media and I hope international community and foreign diplomatic missions will speak out against this fact,” Sozar Subari, the public defender, said at a joint news conference with Glonti on May 30.
“Officially the company again claims a technical problem, which I do not believe is true. It is purely a politically-motivated move. Now they have pledged to resolve ‘the technical problem’ and to resume airing Maestro TV today,” Glonti told Civil.Ge on June 1.
Tori executives were not available for the comment.
Glonti also said that currently Maestro TV, apart of Tbilisi, also goes out on cable in Telavi, Batumi and Zestaponi. He said that the television was also available for viewers in the town of Akhmeta, but the local cable network stopped its transmission citing technical problems.
Meanwhile, Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of Conservative Party, said the opposition planned a protest rally in Rustavi in support Maestro TV on June 4.
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