NET Television (normally shortened to NET) is a
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
terrestrial television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
owned by NET Media (previously known as
Media.link Communications), the media arm of the
Nationalist Party. It started broadcasting in 1998 from
Pietà, Malta
Pietà () is a small harbour town in the Eastern Region of Malta, located near the outskirts of the capital city Valletta.
Etymology
The name ''Tal-Pietà'' is derived from Italian, and means "Pity", referring to the pity of Our Lady of Sorro ...
.
NET Television is also one of the most watched television channels, with it being the 3rd most viewed channel in Malta (7.88% of the population) as of May 2019.
History
The government liberalised the television market in 1991 by granting licences to the two parties. Following the launch of Super One (now One Television) by the Labour Party, the Nationalist Party followed in 1998 with NET TV, precisely when the party lost at the polls to
Alfred Sant
Alfred Sant, (born 28 February 1948) is a Malta, Maltese politician and a novelist. He led the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1992 to 2008 and served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1 ...
.
In its early years, as of 2004, NET TV's parent company lost Lm1.9 million, without witnessing a break even period. It cut some of its losses between 1999 and 2002 to achieve some form of turnaround.
Criticism and fines
In November 2007, NET Television was fined, paying Lm600 in libel damages to architect Lawrence Mintoff, who had been libelled in a 13 November 1998 ''NET News'' bulletin. According to Mintoff, the bulletin carried footage of him entering the Labour Party headquarters (its rival channel One is owned by Labour), allegations that were claimed by Mintoff as being false.
Court finds Labour Party candidate’s honesty, integrity were not ‘attacked’
/ref>
References
External links
*
*
Television stations in Malta
Television channels and stations established in 1998
1998 establishments in Malta
Nationalist Party (Malta) publications
Pietà, Malta
{{Malta-stub