Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) is the

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. PBS is funded by government grants and the sale of commercial airtime. Its TVM channel is Malta's most watched television channel, and its radio station

Magic Malta Magic Malta is a music radio station in MaltaAddress: 75 Triq San Luqa PTA1022 Pietà, Malta operated by Public Broadcasting Services, the Maltese government's public broadcaster. This station gives a big importance to music and caters to most a ...

enjoys huge popularity among local and tourist listeners.

History

PBS was founded on November 11, 1975 as Xandir Malta and became joint member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) together with the Maltese Broadcasting Authority (MBA). The latter was previously admitted as a full, active member, as Malta Television Service Ltd already has been, in 1970. Since 2003, PBS is the sole Maltese member of EBU. Prior to Xandir Malta, Rediffusion broadcast television programmes in Malta under the name The Malta Television Service Ltd. The service was run by

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV ( commer ...

, a London-based independent broadcaster. Transmissions in Malta started from

Hamrun Hamrun (; ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 9,244 as of March 2014. The people The townspeople are traditionally known as ''Tas-Sikkina'' (literally meaning 'of the knife' or 'those who carry a knife') or as '' ...

on 11 November 1935 under the name of "Broadcast Relay Service Malta Ltd." Charles Whotcroft and George Powler were the first manager and chief engineer respectively. On 29 September 1962 Rediffusion (Malta) Ltd. inaugurated a television service covering the Maltese islands.''Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Globalization''

Indrajit Banerjee Indrajit Banerjee (10 November 1964 – 25 January 2019) was an author on media and communication and the director of the Knowledge Societies Division at UNESCO. He obtained a PhD with distinction from Sorbonne University Paris in communi ...

, Kalinga Seneviratne, AMIC, 2006, page 245 On 14 February 1975 the employees of the Rediffusion (Malta) Ltd staged a sit-in strike at the company's premises in Malta and they even started to run the company. On 30 July 1975 an agreement was reached between Rediffusion Group of Companies and the

Dom Mintoff Dominic Mintoff, ( mt, Duminku Mintoff, ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese Socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 198 ...

led Labour Party government of Malta for the transfer of all Rediffusion's assets in Malta to the Maltese government. Following the transition to

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

using the

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...

standard in October 2011, all licensed terrestrial channels in Malta are distributed through a network of transmitters operated by PBS. These transmitters are located in Delimara (

Marsaxlokk Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the South Eastern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishermen and history. As at March 2014, the village had a population of 3,534. The ...

Nadur Nadur ( mt, In-Nadur) is an administrative unit of Malta, located in the eastern part of the island of Gozo. Nadur is built on a plateauand is one of the largest localities in Gozo. Known as the 'second city', it spreads along a high ridge to ...

Mellieħa Mellieħa ( mt, il-Mellieħa ) is a large village in the Northern Region of Malta. It has a population of 10,087 as of March 2014. Mellieħa is also a tourist resort, popular for its sandy beaches and natural environment. Etymology The name ''M ...

, Mtarfa,

Naxxar Naxxar ( mt, In-Naxxar) is a small city in the Northern Region of Malta, with a population of 14,891 people as of March 2014. The Naxxar Church is dedicated to Our Lady of Victories. The annual village feast is celebrated on 8 September. Naxx ...

and Portomaso ( St. Julian's). PBS is managed by a Board of Directors. The current Executive Charmain is Mark Sammut. Charles Dalli is the Chief Operations Officer. In 2021, they announced that the TV channels will change their logos but one changed a name as well.

Services

Radio

PBS' radio services consist of the Radju Malta, Radju Malta 2 and

radio stations. For a short period in 1975/1976 it also had an Italian-language station, called ''Radio Malta Tre''; the news were read by Anna Bonanno.

Television

PBS' television services consist of the TVM and TVMNews+ television channels. It also operates the Parliament TV service under an agreement with the

Parliament of Malta The Parliament of Malta ( mt, Il-Parlament ta' Malta) is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the President of Malta. By const ...

References

External links

* {{Coord, 35, 53, 31, N, 14, 29, 32, E, region:MT, display=title Television in Malta Publicly funded broadcasters European Broadcasting Union members Multilingual broadcasters Television channels and stations established in 1975 State media