The national broadcaster will no longer have an official news channel as of next week, with TVMnews+ dropping ‘news’ from its logo. 

On Thursday morning, television producers received an email from PBS, informing them that as of Monday 30 September, TVMnews+ will become TVM+. The email also included the channel’s new logo. 

The change has come ahead of the new programme schedule.

This is the second revamp the channel has experienced in recent years. 

TVMnews+ replaced TVM2 in 2021, after a massive rebranding effort by the national broadcaster.

When the new channel was first announced, PBS said it would focus exclusively on news, sports, culture, history and current affairs programmes. 

At the time, Times of Malta spoke to four TVM reporters anonymously who all complained that TVM's news had been relegated to a "government noticeboard" and proper journalism was being "stifled".

Viewers have noted that most current affairs programmes migrated from TVM to TVMnews+, and instead of focusing solely on news, the channel now broadcasts discussion programmes and documentary-style shows. 

Shows such as ‘Paqpaq’, a programme on motorsports, Tgħid x’Inhu?, a programme discovering objects in local museums, and a biographical documentary on different Maltese women's careers,  Il-Mara, are broadcast weekly on TVMnews+

The most recent Broadcasting Authority report, published in August, noted how only an average of 5,589 people followed TVMnews+, a drastic drop when compared to TVM's 72,000 plus audience. 

The report noted how viewers preferred to watch the news bulletin on TVM, rather than on TVMnews+.

TVM is the most followed TV station: 41% of local viewers mentioned TVM as one of the three TV stations they watched the previous day.

Questions have been sent to PBS.