http://1tv.ge/

info@gpb.ge

Address:

#68 M. Kostava St., Tbilisi 0171

Phone:

(+995 32) 2 409 409

(+995 32) 2 409 377

(+995 32) 2 409 477

Television Channel 1 - Public Broadcaster

Channel 1 of the public television was founded in 1956 and then transformed as Channel 1 of Georgian Public Broadcaster pursuant to the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting adopted in 2004.

According to Article 15 of the Law on Broadcasting, for the purpose of providing the public with diverse programs that are free from political and commercial influence and that reflect the interests of the public, a Public Broadcaster shall be established under this Law. The Public Broadcaster is a legal entity of public law that is independent of the state and accountable to the public. 

The governing bodies of the Georgian Public Broadcaster are the Board of Trustees and the Director General. Members of the Board are selected through an open competition. Candidates for the new board are selected by an independent commission and then picked based on quota system by the parliamentary majority group (3); Public Defender (2); Adjara Autonomous Republic’s legislative body (1) and lawmakers outside the majority factions (3).

Amendments to the Law on Broadcasting on the new rule of composition of GPB’s Board of Trustees were approved in July and November 2013.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, said that legislative amendments to the Law on Broadcasting “improve the current law, ensuring greater pluralism and transparency in the work of the public broadcaster.”

Although over two years have passed since the adoption of the law, the Parliament still fails to reach a consensus on the candidates nominated by the opposition and two seats, technically from the opposition’s quota, still remain vacant.

Based on public opinion polls, the Board of Trustees annually determines the channel’s program priorities. 

Article 16 of the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting defines content related obligations, according to which the public television shall “broadcast a number of programmes in certain proportions prepared in the languages of minorities, about minority groups and programmes prepared by minorities.” News programs in Armenian, Ossetian, Azerbaijani and Abkhazian languages have been transferred from Channel 1to Channel 2; the latter’s broadcast range is relatively limited.  

To represent needs and interests of the public through the Public Broadcaster and to ensure fulfillment of obligations defined by Article 16 of this Law, Article 31 envisages the creation of public councils authorized to prepare recommendations for the Public Broadcaster with the direct participation of the public. The public television has not elected public councils since 2011.

The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) assigns frequencies to the public broadcaster pursuant to Article 17 of the Law on Broadcasting (3 television and 3 radio frequencies). 

The budget of the Georgian Public Broadcaster is formed from income taxes paid by Georgian citizens. The public television receives its funding from the budget and it shall be no less than 0.14% of the gross domestic product of Georgia during the previous year.

According to Article 63 (8) of the Law on Broadcasting, in sports or artistic representations with natural breaks and in programmes dedicated to events conducted analogically, advertisements or teleshopping may be placed during natural breaks only. Restrictions imposed on advertisements and teleshopping do not apply to satellite or online broadcasting.