It is still unclear when Imedi TV will resume broadcasts, Giorgi Targamadze, head of the station's political programs, said in an interview with the Georgian daily Rezonansi, published on January 8.

“At this point I can not say when Imedi TV will resume broadcasts,” Targamadze said. “From the legal point of view, the television station will have problems with the broadcast license if it fails to resume broadcasts within a month [of suspending broadcasts].”

Imedi TV staff and management said on December 26 the television station was “temporarily suspending” broadcasts in an attempt “to distance ourselves from dirty political games” and in protest against both its owner, Badri Patarkatsishvili, and the authorities. Many leading Imedi journalists had earlier quit. All these developments came after the Georgian authorities had released compromising video and audio tapes implicating Patarkatsishvili and his allies in an alleged coup plot. The audio tapes purport to show Patarkatsishvili offering USD 100 million to a top Interior Ministry official, Irakli Kodua, in exchange for - among other things - “neutralizing” Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.

Targamadze said in the newspaper interview that most of the remaining Imedi journalists would only continue working at the station if given “all the necessary guarantees that New Corp. would assume full responsibility” for managing the station.