Regulator Warns Broadcasters, Including Formula, Over ‘Funding from Foreign Power’
The Communications Commission, Georgia’s state media regulator, has issued written warnings to several broadcasters, including the government-critical Formula TV, for allegedly receiving foreign funding, marking the first known invocation of new broadcasting laws that ban television and radio channels from receiving money from foreign sources.
In the October 9 decision, the regulator found TV Formula, along with its affiliate Formula Multimedia and three radio stations – Journalists’ Union–People’s Voice, Radio-TV Nori, and Sistema Gama, in violation of Georgia’s Law on Broadcasting, saying the media organizations must “cease receiving funding from foreign powers.” The law was amended in April, introducing stricter content regulations but also banning Georgian broadcasters from receiving direct or indirect foreign funding.
According to ComCom, Formula Multimedia received GEL 1,336,675 (about USD 500,000) in the second quarter of 2025 from INFINITY CV GROUP CY LTD, a Cyprus-registered company. During the same period, it argued that TV Formula received GEL 463,000 (about USD 170,000) from its affiliate Formula Multimedia.
Cyprus corporate registry records identify Davit Kezerashvili, the former defense minister and ex-controlling shareholder of the channel, as the director of INFINITY CV GROUP CY LTD. In March, Kezerashvili officially transferred his remaining shares to Formula TV co-founders Mikheil Mshvildadze and Zurab Gumbaridze.
Citing the statistical reports submitted by the companies, the regulator said both transfers constituted loans, and added that Formula Multimedia “has no other significant income apart from the funding received from the foreign-registered legal entity INFINITY CV GROUP CY LTD.”
ComCom argued that since the funding doesn’t fall within the exceptions allowed by the Broadcasting Law, including “commercial advertising, teleshopping, sponsorship, and product placement in programs,” it issued written warnings to TV Formula and its affiliate and “ordered them to cease receiving funding from INFINITY CV GROUP CY LTD.”
The regulator did not specify the individual cases involving the radio broadcasters but said that “for violating the same law,” it had issued warnings to Journalists’ Union-People’s Voice, Radio-TV Nori, and Sistema Gama, ordering them as well to cease receiving funding from foreign powers.
The stricter broadcasting laws come as part of a broader crackdown on critical media, which also includes laws restricting access to foreign funding for online media. Earlier, ComCom invoked a separate provision of the amended broadcasting laws, the one concerning content regulations, to find several TV channels in violation for using terminology that questioned the legitimacy of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Also Read:
- 04/07/2025 – Regulator Finds Violation in Channels Questioning GD Legitimacy, But Doesn’t Fine Them
- 30/06/2025 – Two Broadcasters Allege Political Motives Behind Levied Accounts
- 01/04/2025 – GD Rubber Stamps FARA, Broadcasting Law Changes, Revives Treason, Removes Gender, Excludes CSOs
This post is also available in: ქართული