Romania’s public television station, TVR, is to relaunch two popular television channels that were scrapped for financial reasons.
Channels
The public broadcaster’s 13-member Administration Board voted Wednesday to reinstate the two channels in an occasionally stormy 5-hour meeting, sources told Universul.net.
The push behind the move was director general Dan Turturica who took on the role in November 2021. He was previously director of Universul.net.
Mr Turturica, 53, was appointed in the hope that he could reform the station which has struggled with ratings, allegations of mismanagement and infighting in recent years.
TVR Cultural, a homegrown version of ARTE which is broadcast in France and Germany, was taken off air in 2013.
News business
TVR Info which will compete with news channels such as Digi 24 was scrapped in 2015. Mr Turturica, who has more than 30 years experience in the news business, was formerly editor-in-chief of www.digi24.ro.
Sources told Universul.net that everyone voted in favor of the motion with the exception of the Social Democratic Party which has three votes. The nationalist AUR party abstained.
TVR Info went off air in mid-August while TVR Cultural was swallowed up by TVR 2 and renamed TVR2 Cultural, Pagina de Media reported.
TVR Info
TVR Info was first launched in 2008. Initially, it broadcast images from cameras around the country. Cameras were installed on a Bucharest square, on a boulevard in the western city of Arad and a fountain in the central town of Pitesti.
By 2011 it began hiring journalists and presenters, some of them well-known names and it had a relaunch that year. But in August 2012, TVR management decided to close the two channels for economic reasons.
No comment
TVR Info managed to keep broadcasting, but the majority of its content was Euronews repeats or other broadcasts from other channels.
.Finally, on Aug. 3, 2015, close to midnight it ended its broadcast with a Euronews “No comment” broadcast showing images of piles of garbage.
US educated journalist Dan Turturica to head Romanian public television station
