Government furtive on Joseph Calleja concert agreement

The government has refused to divulge details of the agreement reached with the 'Joseph Calleja and Friends 2013' concert organisers over the free access to the standing area, saying it was commercially sensitive information.

The government was reported to have secured free access to the public for this year's concert held by tenor Joseph Calleja, but no details were forthcoming on the deal struck with concern organisers NnG, which is also run by Public Broadcasting Services Chief Executive Anton Attard.

SLIDESHOW Calleja lights up the Granaries

According to Attard, an estimated 25,000 persons attended the concert on 1 August, with around 6,000 persons in the seated and VIP areas. Tickets prices for the seated area ranged between €80 and €200.

However, a government spokesperson told MaltaToday that the agreement reached between the government and the Joseph Calleja 2013 concert organisers was not solely related to the standing area.

"The agreement centres upon the free distribution of the concert to TV networks. Its highlights will be distributed to major TV networks that have shown interest in airing it," the spokesperson said.

He added that multilingual news television channel Euronews was already airing the concert's main highlights.

"This will serve as a promotional tool by the tourism ministry. In the coming weeks the government will be announcing the first major network that will air the show in the UK territory."

The spokesperson pointed out that, "given these and other negotiations that have and will be entered into with third parties, the financial value of such agreements is commercially sensitive and could prejudice Malta's negotiating position".

In an interview on Labour's One Radio, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted that the government's initiative to grant free access to people in the standing areas attracted thousands of people who had never attended a Calleja concert before.

He said, however, that the initiative "was not a sponsorship, but an investment" in Malta.

Muscat explained that Calleja had a cross-border appeal which Malta could use to penetrate new markets in tourism. Confirming the ongoing negotiations with television networks over the concert's distribution rights, Muscat said that the government had reached an agreement with Sky Arts, which will broadcast the concert in September on the Sky UK platform.

Muscat described the Calleja concert as a "successful" pilot project and said that discussions over further initiatives for next year's concert will commence shortly.

In July, in reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Charlò Bonnici, Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella said that there was no agreement signed with the concert's organisers.

Vella was asked to specify whether the government would be subsidising the concert organisers for the standing access opened free of charge to the public, and what the original standing capacity was (which the organisers had agreed to concede so that only seated tickets would be sold to the public).

The concert included performances by Italian blues-rock singer Zucchero, Italian singer-songwriter Riccardo Cocciante, British X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson, Malta's former Eurovision hopeful Gianluca Bezzina, and local DJ duo Tenishia.