Imervizia

TV company Imervizia broadcasts its programs in Chiatura and Sachkhere districts, which border the territory of so-called South Ossetia from the west.

Due to the local relief Imervizia's signal reaches the villages situated in Java district controlled by South Ossetia's de-facto authorities. Therefore, the TV channel has been broadcasting the daily Ossetian-language newscast during the last several months. The newscast is produced by Georgian Public Broadcasting.

Imervizia was founded by several enthusiasts back in 1991. Years ago it was broadcasting only newscasts and feature films. Now it's one of the most productive TV channels among the local broadcasters.

Its daily newscast is aired once a day except for weekends. Journalists often visit various villages of Chiatura district. 3 full-time and 2 trainee journalists are working on the news program.

Twice a month Imervizia airs political talk show "Main Topic". Besides, the TV channel produces TV program called "Member of Sakrebulo's Hour" twice a month. That program has the following format: a member of local Sakrebulo (representative municipal body) answers the questions asked by local viewers, the questions are recorded by TV reporters in various villages beforehand and aired during the show in the form of a TV story.

"Member of Sakrebulo's Hour" is a critical program" - Ramaz Gamezardashvili, Director and Founder of Imervizia TV station says.

Imervizia actively cooperates with other regional broadcasters and Georgian Association of Regional Broadcasters. As a result of that cooperation the TV channel airs weekly TV journal Mravalkutkhedi (Polygon); the program is produced by Georgian Association of Regional Broadcasters with financial assistance from Dutch organization Press Now. The show is aired by local TV stations across Georgia.

Together with Kutaisi-based TV station Rioni, Imervizia produces a weekly news-analytical program titled "Seven Days", which covers the events taking place in the region.

Imervizia also broadcasts Magnificent Seven TV show, which is immensely popular among the local youngsters. If you ask any schoolchild in Chiatura's streets about the program he or she would tell you many things about the program. Magnificent Seven is an intellectual TV show, which hosts groups of students from local high schools. During a TV season as many as 700-800 students from Sachkhere and Chiatura districts participate in the show. Gamezardashvili admits that his TV channel became especially popular as a result of that particular show.

Youngsters from Khashuri and Zestaponi districts also take part in that program. The show has limited financing and it shows in its technical quality. The program is recorded with one and the same DVD camera in classrooms and school corridors. That show is a good example for those who believe that millions are necessary in order to produce a successful TV project. Notwithstanding its limited resources that TV show is unusually productive: participation in Magnificent Seven is a matter of prestige for the students of Chiatura and Sachkhere schools.

You may be surprised by the ability of the TV station to produce so many programs with such limited resources. They're still broadcasting their programs in DVD quality and they still don't have HDV cameras (let alone digital ones). But despite this, the management of the TV station has a long-term development plan ready, which also implies digitalization in 2013.

According to Founder and Director of the TV channel Ramaz Gamezardashvili, the biggest challenge for them is keeping up with technical innovations and meeting the standards for modern broadcasting. However, Imervizia got another problem as a result of October 30, 2009 decree #3 issued by Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC). According to that decree, owners of private (general or specialized) broadcasting licenses are obliged to air foreign films only in their original languages with Georgian subtitles. In Gamezardashvili's opinion, that decree will pose serious problems for local TV channels.

"So far we don't have financial resources needed for airing movies that way" - he says. Therefore Georgian Association of Regional Broadcasters has prepared a special address (http://www.media.ge/en/node/37696) and called upon GNCC to annul the abovementioned decree.