PBS To Stop Selling Airtime To Producers, As It Offers Fees And Commission Instead
PBS will stop selling airtime to producers as it seeks to change its loss-making business model, Lovin Malta is informed.
The State-owned company will begin meeting producers today, offering them a fee for their productions, as well as a percentage of advertising.
Sales will now be totally taken over by the public broadcaster itself, to assert more control and eliminate discrepancies in pricing.
The current changes are being spearheaded by Mark Sammut, a businessman who was appointed to the role of Executive Chairman.
Today’s meetings will be held with the likes of Where’s Everybody, Sharpshoot Media and Mario Philip Azzopardi.
But Lovin Malta is informed that most producers who submitted for February’s call for applications will be contacted and given an offer.
PBS, which manages TVM and TVM2, is planning to turn TVM into a primarily entertainment channel and TVM2 into one dedicated to news and current affairs.
PBS gets some €6 million a year in public funding but also competes commercially to make up the bulk of its financing.
Despite the dominance in the advertising sector and the public funding, it is some €10 million in debt, and exposed by another €10 million due to lawsuits with staff.
What changes are you expecting to see at PBS?
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