Maestro, an independent TV station, resumed broadcasting late on November 29, a day after it went off air.

Officials from the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) said Maestro, which goes out on cable in Tbilisi via Global TV Co., had “technical problems” with Global TV.

Mamuka Glonti, the director of the station, however alleged that Maestro’s planned new program aimed at the popularization of journalism and the promotion of democratic values was the reason why the station had gone off the air. Glonti said that about two weeks ago he had been contacted by an unnamed person offering some “friendly advice” - not to air the program. He suggested that it was the intervention of acting-President Nino Burjanadze that had secured the station's re-opening.  Burjanadze, he said, had contacted him and pledged to help resolve the problem.

Glonti told Civil.Ge that Maestro would air the new program on November 30.

“This series of programs – Journalism as a Profession – constitutes two parts. In the first one we will show a journalist’s everyday work and in the second part a journalist is going to talk with a guest about the meaning of democracy, the difference between a presidential and parliamentary system, etc.. It is more an educational type of project,” Glonti said.

The proposed program is to be hosted by four journalists: Alexander Elisashvili and Tamar Chikovani, both from RFE/RL Georgian Service, and Ia Antadze and Zviad Koridze.

This new program is a first for Maestro, which normally airs music videos. At one point it was a reality TV show producer.