Household name John Bundy to become state broadcaster’s new CEO

TV presenter John Bundy is set to become the new chief executive officer of the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), replacing Anton Attard who’s been at the helm of PBS for the past six years.

Informed sources have confirmed the news, reported by Times of Malta, with MaltaToday.

Attard, the former Nationalist strategist and campaigner and head of programming at NET , had been appointed CEO in 2010, two years after the 2008 general elections. He is also a director of NNG Promotions, responsible for organising the annual Joseph Calleja concerts, amongst several others. He is known in the field for his technical expertise in audiovisual and digital media. 

Following Labour’s election in 2013, the government faced repeated calls to sack Attard, with the most vociferous being Jason Micallef. Micallef is the chairman of the V18 Foundation and former secretary-general of the Labour Party.

Micallef, currently the executive chairman at One Productions, had also blamed Attard for Malta’s “abysmal” showing during last year’s Eurovision semi-final. Many a times, Micallef would take to Facebook criticizing Attard and calling for his resignation.

However, Attard was responsible for Malta's Junior Eurovision Song Contest victories in 2013 and 2015, won by singers Gaia Cauchi and Destiny Chukunyere. 

Bundy, a TV and radio presenter, was among those who had switched to the Labour Party and had his own TV shows on ONE TV. Then, during the electoral campaign, he had been invited multiple times to present activities and events organized by the Labour Party.

In 2014, reacting to a news report by sister newspaper Illum, Bundy had confirmed that, in 2012, he had been offered the job of head of radios at PBS but that he had turned it down because of a promise he had made to Labour leader Joseph Muscat.

“I had given my word to Joseph Muscat to stay on at ONE TV until the 2013 elections,” Bundy had said, adding that he had considered the position of CEO of PBS after the elections. “It’s true, I did consider the position of CEO but it’s difficult for this to happen with PBS in the clasp of Silvio Scerri.”

Before the Sheehan shooting incident, the Public Broadcasting Services fell under the responsibility of Minister Manuel Mallia, who at the time had Silvio Scerri as his chief of staff. Scerri and Bundy did not see eye to eye, so much so that Scerri had also sued Bundy for libel.

Bundy has had stints at all of Malta’s television stations, in a career that has spanned 25 years. He started his broadcasting career as a radio host in 1986 on Radju Malta. He moved  to the Nationalist Party’s NET TV in 1998. He had his own breakfast show on Smash TV. Between 2002 and 2008, he presented shows on TVM, including Hawn Ahna, Bongu, Mill l-Ghatba l-Gewwa and Ta’ Bundy. In 2009 he switched to the Labour Party’s ONE TV, where he presented Bongu Bundy and Affari Taghna. He returned to TVM following the 2013 general election, with a new show Ma’ Bundy. 

In 1995, Bundy won the Ghanja tal-Poplu festival with his song 'Pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse', written and composed by Martin Attard.