On January 6, 2017, the Board of Trustees of the Georgian Public Broadcaster elected Vasil Maglaperidze as Director General. He had previously held senior positions in TV companies owned by the Ivanishvili family—first as Deputy Director of Channel 9 and later as Executive Producer of the GDS program 2030.

Within a month of his appointment, Maglaperidze and his team presented a three-year development plan for the Public Broadcaster. According to this new document, by 2018, 101 programs were to be discontinued, including the social issues program Realuri Sivrce (“Real Space”) and two co-productions with Radio Liberty, Red Zone and InterVIEW. The plan triggered public protests, as activists demanded the continuation of these programs.

On February 9, protesters marched from the university’s 6th building to the Public Broadcaster headquarters. They were joined by activists from Green Fist and Auditoria 115, as well as representatives from the Trade Union Confederation and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. Together, they occupied the broadcaster’s lobby and demanded to be given airtime. Their demand was met—they were granted a five-minute live broadcast to address the public. Protesters expressed solidarity with employees of the Public Broadcaster, holding banners that read: “The Public Broadcaster Belongs to Us,” “Bring Us Back to the Real Space,” and “Don’t Stop.” They argued that shutting down these programs deprived the public of critical information and undermined citizens’ interests.

On February 10, Maglaperidze introduced a revised vision for the channel’s development. According to the new plan, all programs (except the news bulletin Moambe) would be reviewed through a specific set of criteria to determine which would remain on air.

On June 13, it was announced that the Public Broadcaster was terminating cooperation with external studios. This decision became the basis for canceling Red Zone and InterVIEW, both produced by Radio Liberty. Once again, the plan included closing Realuri Sivrce, this time citing low ratings as the reason. The team behind the show was offered positions within the news division, which they declined.

Public discontent resurfaced on June 16, when a small group held another protest, “The Public Broadcaster Is Ours,”once again condemning the closure of these programs. The results of the internal competition were announced on June 21, 2017, and as of July 17, all programs except Moambe were taken off the air. According to the board, new programs selected through the competition would return in September 2017, aligned with new programming priorities.

Realuri Sivrce passed the competition but returned to air only seven months later, on January 26, 2018, in a revised format and with a shorter runtime.