Maestro TV to Resume Political Programs in November

Tbilisi-based TV station Maestro will resume political programming on November 17, Mamuka Glonti, the station’s founder, said on October 13.

He made the announcement after talks with Giorgi Arveladze,the head of the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC). The talks were mediated by the Anti-Crisis Council.

Maestro TV, which goes out on cable in the capital, as well as in Rustavi, Telavi and Gori, currently only has a license for entertainment and music programs.

Early this year Maestro TV, however, starting broadcasting three new shows, all with a political flavor – Journalism as a Profession – a talk-show hosted by an invited guest, often a politician; No Comment – covering news stories through live footage and without commentary; Polling – a call-in talk-show that allowed viewers to express their political point on live TV.

In March 2008, the GNCC formally warned the station that it had no right to air political programmes. The station complied with the ruling and suspended the three offending programmes. It then applied for the appropriate license, but was refused because of its earlier breech of the rules. The refusal, the station management said, was unjustified and was an official attempt to limit political discourse in the broadcast media.

The TV station brought the case in court; late in September Tbilisi City Court, however, upheld the original rulng by the GNCC.

The matter subsequently became a political issue for opposition parties which have no representation in the Parliament. The parliamentary minority groups, which along with the ruling party, are part of the Anti-Crisis Group, also took up the issue.

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