Imedi TV
| Type |
Broadcast radio network and television network |
|---|---|
| Country | Georgia |
| Availability | National |
| Owner | Georgian Media Production Group |
|
Official website
|
www.imedi.ge |
Imedi Media Holding (Georgian: იმედი მედია ჰოლდინგი) is a private television and Radio Company in Georgia. The stations were founded by the Georgian media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. Today, they are owned by Inna Gudavadze, the Georgian businesswoman and widow of Badri Patarkatsishvili. The station mainly concentrates on news and analytical coverage but broadcasts pop music as well, particularly at night-time. Imedi means "hope" in Georgian.
Radio Imedi first aired on 105.9 FM in December 2001 in Tbilisi. Since December 2003 "Radio Imedi" has broadcast 24 hours a day across all the settled territory in Georgia.
When Imedi was founded, it was the first independently owned broadcasting station in Georgia. During the 2007 Georgian demonstrations the station was the most watched station and the only one critical of the Mikheil Saakashvili government. It remained the only independent station in the country until it was forcibly seized by government troops in 2007 and then expropriated from its legal owners for criticising the government. After several years of affective government control, it was returned to the Patarkatsishvili family in 2012.
During the Sandro Girgvliani murder investigation in 2006, Patarkatsishvili stated that the Georgian authorities were mounting pressure on his station and other businesses after it had broadcast details of the scandal. "It is no secret that Imedi television was the first one which reported the circumstances of Sandro Girgvliani’s murder...this alone became a reason for the authorities’ dissatisfaction, which triggered the financial authorities to actively launch a probe into my businesses and my companies so [as] to force me to mount pressure against [my] journalists..and facilitate the creation of a favorable image of the authorities," Badri Patarkatsishvili went on to say that he would never yield to pressure from the authorities.
The station carried statements by opposition leaders and broadcast footage of police breaking up protests during the 2007 November Georgian demonstrations and went off air after riot police burst into their offices on November 7, 2007. The seizure was seen as symbolic of the governments attacks on private property at the time.
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Wikipedia