CEO: Future of EMTV is secure

 EMTV’s future in Papua New Guinea is secure, chief executive officer Bhanu Sud said yesterday.

The national television station is owned by Media Niugini Ltd, a subsidiary of Fiji Television Ltd, whose chief executive Tevita Gonelevu said this week that EMTV had been “privately informed” of the Government’s moves to introduce new media ownership legislation.

However, Sud denied in an email to The National yesterday that EMTV’s future was “uncertain”.  

“Media Niugini Ltd, had in the past two years, improved and strengthened its financial position, viewing quality, multi-presence, coverage and standard of news journalism to unprecedented levels.”

He stressed that there had never been such a strong sense of purpose and vision as to what the company’s future was in the PNG media landscape was there is today.

“It is not, by any means, uncertain.”

Sud added that MNL and EMTV had always been transparent about the way they conducted their business. 

Fiji TV took over EMTV in January 2005 when it purchased it for A$2.1 million (K4.8 million) from Kerry Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd.  

Gonelevu told Islands Business news that the PNG Government plans were communicated to the company through a number of senior government ministers and officials in Waigani. 

 “From the PNG Government side, there have been indications that they would want changes in the ownership of the company. 

“They would be enacting a law, something like the Fiji media decree, where ownership would be majority owned by locals,” he said.