PBS mulls court decision on EU spots

The Public Broadcasting Services board is leaving it to the last minute to decide whether to appeal the court ruling in favour of the Labour Party airing its political spots about the EU.

PBS has until Monday to appeal. When contacted, PBS chairman Anthony Tabone said the board had a one-hour meeting yesterday afternoon where it was agreed that PBS should wait until Friday or Monday morning before deciding.

"We want to evaluate the implications of the decision and study it in depth. We have nothing to gain by submitting a frivolous appeal," Mr Tabone said.

On Thursday, the Civil Court decided two cases over the broadcast of information spots on the EU and ordered PBS to air the MLP spots.

Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef dismissed a writ filed by PBS Limited against the Broadcasting Authority and upheld another filed by the MLP against the BA and PBS.

PBS had complained that it would be seriously prejudiced by the authority's order to carry the MLP's spots on the alternatives to EU membership free of charge in the time reserved by the station for advertising.

The Malta-EU Information Centre was paying for the spots it was showing on TVM.

In the meantime, while it waited to decide on whether to appeal the judgment or not, PBS was abiding by the court's ruling and on Sunday aired nine spots by the MLP on the EU with another six scheduled for today.

"The MLP is dictating to the BA and to PBS when and where it wants its spots on the EU to appear. MIC does so too, but it has every right to do so since it pays for the slots," Mr Tabone said.

When asked if this ruling had set a precedent, paving the way for the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika to ask for the same treatment, Mr Tabone said the BA would be discussing the matter on Thursday.

"The MLP has its own television station which competes with PBS. If all the political spots of the three parties end up being lumped on PBS, then people will just switch channels and stop watching us, as surveys have shown," he pointed out.

A recent qualitative study on 'Broadcasting pluralism in Malta - 10 years later' by marketing consultant Marika Fsadni showed that audiences perceived "local television and radio stations as political propaganda machines which brainwash and manipulate their audiences".

Turning to another topic, Mr Tabone said he would be resigning his post at the end of this month, which he has been wanting to do since he was appointed deputy to the chief executive of the Farsons Group and then company secretary on April 1.

Mr Tabone's term was to end in December this year and many had believed that Mr Tabone's intention to resign followed the court's decision on the MLP spots. Opposition leader Alfred Sant has also called for his resignation, along with that of the PBS board.

However, though he agreed that the timing "did not prove to be ideal", this was absolutely not the case.

"My job at Farsons is very time-consuming and PBS requires somebody to be here all the time to follow the developments - it was difficult to cope with both," he explained.

"Last December, I asked Education Minister Louis Galea to relieve me of my post and we agreed I should end my term in April. Then we pushed it back to May and eventually we agreed that I should leave my post this month," he explained.

Mr Tabone said Dr Galea had wanted him to stay on in the hope that the restructuring programme at the station would have been concluded by September.

The only stumbling block which has halted the programme is the proposed early retirement scheme which requires the stamp of approval of the General Workers' Union and the government.

"I have maintained all along that something has to be done and unless restructuring takes place there is no future for the station.

"We managed to reduce the company's losses, but it still remains a loss-making company and it cannot survive like this," he said.

Mr Tabone is hoping that he has now laid the foundation for restructuring, enabling his successor to take on the gruelling task of converting PBS into a profit-making machine.

When asked about the identity of his successor, Mr Tabone said that a few people had been approached. However, no decision had been taken.