The public TV’s second channel may switch to a solely political programming providing live coverage of statements and press conferences by politicians and political parties.

Parliamentary Chairperson, Davit Bakradze, discussed the proposal at a meeting with Levan Kubaneishvili, the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s (GPB) general director and Levan Gakheladze, the chairman of GPB’s board of trustees.

“Implementation of this idea, I think, will remove once and forever question marks over the issue whether politicians and political parties have a chance to deliver their messages to the population through live broadcast,” Davit Bakradze told journalists after the meeting.

Levan Gakheladze, the chairman of GPB board of trustees, said that the board “will actively work” with the political parties to outline “an exact format of the idea” and “an exact programming of this channel.”

The Georgian Public Broadcaster has two channels – the first, which is the main one and the second channel, which is now used for airing live the parliamentary sessions. The second channel is now also used for airing hearings of the parliamentary commission studying the August war.

Levan Kubaneishvili, the public TV general director, said that this new format on the second channel will not trigger changes at the GPB’s main channel’s programming.

The public TV’s second channel does not cover entire territory of Georgia. “It however covers all the major cities in the country,” Kubaneishvili said, “and we hope that [geographical] area of coverage will further increase as a result of technical upgrade.”