Euronews Georgia is changing its format and will no longer cover local news, citing financial reasons. A reorganisation has also been announced, and it remains unclear how many staff members will be dismissed.
Euronews Georgia, which began broadcasting in 2020, announced its format change on Friday.
‘Under the updated model, the main focus will be on continuously refreshed, high-quality international content adapted for the Georgian audience’, the statement read, signaling a shift away from local news coverage, which had formerly made up a significant part of the channel’s output.
According to the statement, the decision to change the format was made following an analysis of the financial situation at Silk Media LLC, the company which owns the broadcasting license of Euronews Georgia. The analysis highlighted that ‘given the trends in Georgia’s television advertising market, the channel’s current broadcasting model cannot generate sufficient financial resources’.
The channel added that the existing model also failed to cover operational costs and meet the financial obligations under the franchise agreement with the Euronews network.
‘The [new] approach directly responds to changes in audience behaviour and multi-platform engagement, while also ensuring a more efficient and future-oriented structure’, the statement read.
‘The goal remains unchanged — to provide audiences with reliable, relevant, and accessible international news content’, the channel added.
The statement did not specify what will happen to Euronews Georgia’s staff.
Silk Media head Jano Zhvania confirmed to OC Media that a reorganisation has been announced at the channel, but the company declined to provide further details at this stage. According to him, the channel employs around 100 people in total.
OC Media understood that the channel’s staff are still reporting to work, though they are not operating at their usual capacity due to the format change. A source said management told employees that the reorganisation process would be carried out in line with the deadlines set out in Georgia’s labour code.
Some staff members commented on the management’s decision on social media. The channel’s journalist Giorgi Tukhareli expressed dissatisfaction toward the official statement in a Facebook post, asking, ‘Where did we disappear? The people who created the product?’.
‘Didn’t a single one of us deserve even a word of thanks? Those who produced so many important stories, whether on inflation, hybrid warfare, threats stemming from Russia’s war machine, or numerous other social issues, done in a balanced way and to high standards?’, he added.
Tukhareli has said that the channel’s staff are, for now, being treated ‘in a legally correct manner’, but he also pointed to an ‘unresolved situational uncertainty’ that has been ‘dragging on for more than a month’, without providing additional details.
‘And one more thing — if airtime is not devoted to national issues at a time like this, then what should it be devoted to, and why?’, he concluded.
Silk Media is owned by Silknet, one of Georgia’s largest telecommunications companies, which in turn is part of the Silk Road Group, the country’s fourth-largest company.
The company’s head, Georgian businessperson Giorgi (Zarala) Ramishvili, was detained at Tbilisi International Airport in July 2025 for the illegal possession of a firearm. Ramishvili described the incident as an oversight, saying he had not noticed the small firearm while packing his bag before departure.
The businessperson was later released on bail instead of being held in pre-trial detention, though the charge carries a prison sentence of up to seven years. His detention sparked speculation about a possible link between the incident and the government’s alleged attempts to intimidate businesspeople.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
