Imedi TV may Stay Off Air ‘for at Least Three Months’

News Corporation said a police raid on Imedi TV station in Tbilisi had caused sever damage to the station’s equipment that would keep the television off the air for at least three months, The Associated Press reported.

Imedi TV’s shut down ahead of snap presidential elections, which President Saakashvili has proposed to hold on January 5, would be a major blow for opposition candidates.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp. said: “We’re shocked and horrified that in what was allegedly a democratic country something like this could happen… that, effectively, stations are put off the air.”

Business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, whom the Georgian authorities suspect of conspiring to overthrow the government, is co-owner of the Imedi media holding which also involves the radio station. Last month he handed over management rights of his shares into Imedi to News Corp. for a one-year term after pledging to finance the opposition’s anti-governmental demonstrations.

“We have instructed, we have monitored to make sure that every news broadcast is absolutely fair and balanced and down the middle,” he said. “But apparently (the authorities) weren’t watching. We invited them to come on the air and put their case and instead 200 goons turned up and smashed the place up. And the people,” Murdoch told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, rumors emerged on November 9 in Tbilisi that the authorities planned to deprive the television of its broadcast license. The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC), however, has denied the speculation.

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