Dissett returns to PBS schedule with Wednesday prime time slot

The show was excluded from the new TVM schedule, in what was an unexpected withdrawal from the national broadcaster’s mission to improve its in-house news offering.

But now it will be aired permanently until March, and perhaps also extended until June, in the primetime slot of 8:40pm.

Formerly it had a Tuesday slot, aired at the very late 9:45pm.

Presenter Reno Bugeja and PBS chief executive Anton Attard issued a statement this afternoon saying the delay to start the programme was “due to the fact that PBS believes Dissett deserves a primetime slot.”

MaltaToday is informed that PBS’s new policy is to broadcast current affairs programmes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

With Where’s Everybody’s Bondiplus already allocated its traditional Monday slot, Dissett was offered the Wednesday slot.

This was first turned down by its presenter due to a possible conflict with UEFA Champions’ League matches usually played in the evenings and which command the total attention of the population.

The decision to axe Dissett was negatively received by the public, and was unwelcome news given that it coincided with newly-appointed chief executive Anton Attard’s first month as CEO.

Dissett previously commanded 27% of viewership on Tuesday evenings, the most followed in the 10-12pm segment. And Reno Bugeja, the most senior journalist at PBS, enjoys a reputation of fairness and objectivity in his one-to-one interviews with government ministers and persons in authority.