Updated | Former PBS chief 'turns down' Eurovision post

The Labour government offered to retain Anton Attard, until a few days ago Chief Executive Officer at PBS, to coordinate all preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest in the adult and junior sections. Both are productions that fall under the public broadcaster’s remit, attracting record audience ratings for the channel.

A week after MaltaToday reported in its Sunday edition that Attard may retain his €74,000 salary at the Public Broadcasting Services - at least until the end of 2016 - without the burden of running the national broadcaster, Attard has told the Malta Independent that he has turned down the offer.

However, refusing to state the money he's entitled to as per his termination agreement, Bundy confirmed that he will stay on as "technical advisor".

“I will have no formal or official role with PBS. However, as part of the termination agreement, I will be providing technical assistance to ensure smooth transition of duties," Attard told the newspaper.

Attard was replaced by his former colleague, the veteran broadcaster John Bundy last week although MaltaToday was told by sources that it was highly unlikely that an official handover will take place since the two had a falling out. Bundy has already complained in an interview to the newspaper Illum that he had been denied a show on PBS because of “spite” inside the national broadcaster – a veiled reference, inside sources say, to Attard.

Once again, the management ‘change’ is redolent of the Labour administration’s style to retain influencers by the side of the government, by keeping them in top posts tagged at handsome salaries.

The role of CEO at the public broadcaster may bring with it a degree of control on the product of PBS, which remains Malta’s most watched station by far. But the distance between the Office of the Prime Minister and the television station’s top posts is a short one: critics like the Nationalist Party, whose former administrations held clear control on PBS content and editorial decisions, are unstinting critics of the equal hold Labour’s top decision-makers have on PBS.

Attard formerly headed the Nationalist Party’s television station Net and in 2008, he ran Lawrence Gonzi’s media campaign, taking care of every aspect of the PN leader’s electoral contest. He was then appointed as CEO at the national broadcaster in 2010. In 2012 Attard did not deny reports that he would quit his post at the national broadcaster, to take up a job at The Times.

But he stayed on and in 2013, when Labour won the election, survived calls from Labour’s former secretary-general and One TV chairman Jason Micallef to resign. Instead he was retained by then home affairs minister Manuel Mallia and instructed to revamp the television station’s current affairs schedule.

Micallef, on his part, remained an unstinting critic of Attard, whom he railed against for being a “a Nationalist par excellence” and running PBS “always to be of service to the PN”. He blamed him for Malta’s abysmal showing in various Eurovision outings, Attard’s particular area of specialization, where often his expertise in organizing TV and musical spectaculars often came into play.

This is where he indeed excelled, when he was responsible for Malta’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest victories in 2013 and 2015, won by singers Gaia Cauchi and Destiny Chukunyere. His resignation in 2014, was turned down by the minister responsible for PBS, who described him as being “very competent in his job”.

During his six-year tenure at PBS Attard was contractually allowed to continue with his private work as director of NNG Promotions, responsible for organising the annual Joseph Calleja concerts, among several others.

Former TV and radio presenter John Bundy, who also had a stint at the PN’s Net set-up, is expected to move into his office tomorrow. 

Bundy had previously said that he was offered to return to Net TV by PN leader Simon Busuttil, secretary-general Rosette Thake and chief financial officer Brian St John. When he departed from the PN television station to later switch on to One TV, his role as a broadcaster served as a soft endorsements of Joseph Muscat when he interviewed the aspiring prime minister before 2013.

In 2014, he had said: “I had given my word to Joseph Muscat to stay on at ONE TV until the 2013 elections,” adding that he had considered the position of CEO at 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,” he said, referring to the former chief of staff under Manuel Mallia, when the latter was home affairs minister responsible for PBS.