ONE TV’s Chairman Jason Micallef told The Malta Independent on Sunday that he believes the discriminatory accusations from the Nationalist Party against the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) are “unfair”.

“I have an opinion on PBS and my opinion is very consistent. I think that PBS needs a real shakeup, a real restructuring,” he said.

“It’s not about being in favour or against someone, or discriminating against one party or another.”

“In my humble opinion, I think the current criticism of PBS being discriminatory is unfair on PBS at the moment. I don’t see that sort of discrimination, but I firmly believe that PBS needs an absolute shakeup,” he continued.

Micallef said that being on the receiving end of both political parties whether in opposition or in government, PBS has always been a “hot potato”.

He remarked that it is The Broadcasting Authority’s (BA) job to assess any sort of discrimination and that it shouldn’t be undermined − whilst noting that both the PN and PL have their own representatives on the board.

“The BA has not called out PBS for any discrimination and so if one wants to ignore the authorities now what can you do?”

He went on to say that he believes PBS’ new chairman Mark Sammut “means well” and deserves more time, since he believes that he and the other new board directors “found big problems” at PBS.

PBS has recently changed its television channels from TVM 1 and 2 into TVM and TVM News Plus, with the latter focusing on cultural and lifestyle programs.

When asked to comment about the statistics that the PN is publishing to support its claims of discrimination, Micallef replied “statistics are odious sometimes.”