Imedi TV to Resume Broadcasts on December 12
Imedi TV will resume broadcasting at 8 pm local time on December 12, a ticker line running at the bottom of the Imedi screen reads.
Qronika (Chronicles) news program will kickstart resumed broadcasting and later on the same day a talk show, On the Air, is expected to follow.
Speaking on a late night talk show – Journalism as a Profession – on Tbilisi-based Maestro TV on December 8, Giorgi Targamadze, head of Imedi?s political programs, said that technicians were working ?almost round-the-clock? to repair damaged equipment in the Imedi studios.
He said there was extensive damage in the main studio?s control unit; the internal phone network and fiber-optic internet connection was totally destroyed. ?The people who did it were professionals, because they targeted the most important equipment to create more problems for us,? Targamadze said.
The authorities have promised to compensate the station for the damage, but they have refused to cover lost advertisement revenues, estimated to be about USD 3 million.
Giorgi Targamadze also said that the station’s management were actively looking for replacements for some key anchors who quit the station following its closure by the authorities. Inga Grigolia and Eka Khoperia, former hosts of On the Air, quit the station, as did a newscaster and two other journalists.
Khoperia now hosts a program on Tbilisi-based Ucnobi radio station and Grigolia yesterday hosted a political talk show produced by TBC TV studio and aired by Imedi?s main rival, Rustavi 2 TV. Grigolia told Rustavi 2 TV that she had decided to leave Imedi TV after its co-owner, business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, decided to run for the presidency.
Targamadze said that Imedi newscaster Magda Anikashvili would be the new host of On the Air.
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