DUSHANBE, March 16, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Poytakht (The Capital) public TV channel has reportedly resumed partial broadcasting.
“Poytakht resumed broadcasting in the evening of March 14 but it is still on the air only eight hours (two hours in the morning and six hours in the evening) on weekends and twelve hours (from 12:00 to 24:00) on weekdays,” Poytakht director Abduqodir Abduqahhor told Asia-Plus in an interview.
“We have purchased spare parts for our old retransmitter but it cannot provide the round-the-clock broadcasting” noted Abduqahhor, “We will resume the round-the-clock broadcasting as soon as we purchase a new retransmitter.”
Poytakht made shit to the round-the-clock broadcasting last autumn.
We will recall that the Dushanbe mayor’s office announced a repeated tender for modernization of the Poytakht TV channel on March 12.
Poytakht, which is controlled by the Dushanbe city administration, has not been available since the morning of February 25. Many people attributed that to the upcoming presidential election in Tajikistan.
Abduqodir Abduqahhor, however, denied these suppositions as absolutely baseless. “The channel stopped broadcasting because of technical problems with transmission equipment,” Poytakht director said.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on February 26 that Poytakht has gone off the air after broadcasting an interview with a prominent dissident poet. On the evening of February 24, the Poytakht TV channel showed an interview with Ms. Gulrukhsor Safiyeva, who is known for her verses criticizing the Tajik government.
The Poytakht public television channel now can be picked up by residents of Dushanbe and nearby districts; in all, some 2 million people.
