Billionaire-turned-politician, Bidzina Ivanishvili, will convene a press conference in his press office if any of the three major nationwide broadcasters provide live coverage of the event, his press office said in a statement on October 13.

“Public interest towards Bidzina Ivanishvili has enormously increased after his [written] statements. If any of the nationwide broadcasters (the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Rustavi 2, Imedi TV) provides live coverage, from October 14, as it has been earlier stated, Bidzina Ivanishvili is ready to hold a press conference for the Georgian media in the office of his press secretariat. He is ready to respond to journalists questions on any issue,” the statement reads.

“We offer management of the nationwide broadcasters, first and foremost the Georgian Public Broadcaster, to cooperate in above mentioned format, which is in line with the public interest. After arranging technical issues,” the statement says.
 
Ivanishvili’s initial offer was that he was ready to sit down for an interview with a large group of journalists at the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s studio. After that GPB said it was ready to provide an airtime in any of the three political talk-shows on its First Channels. The format of none of those three talk-shows, however, envisages hosting of large group of journalists. Ivanishvili’s spokesman, Irakli Tripolski, met with GPB general director, Gia Chanturia, on October 10 to discuss details of a potential televised interview, but as it seems no agreement had been reached on format.

The Georgian Public Broadcaster said in a statement on October 13, that it would cover Ivanishvili’s press conference, but the statement does not say that it would provide its live coverage. Instead it reiterates its previous offer to invite Ivanishvili on its political talk shows aired live on its First Channel.