GO With First Ever Library of Maltese TV Content

Oct 2 2022

GO has launched its brad new Maltese television channel TOKIS, the first ever library of local television content, which to date already features over 1000 hours of Maltese drama productions, available to all GO TV customers.

“TOKIS: A significant milestone in the evolution of Malta’s television”

“To date, we have already registered over 1.7 million views of the existing content since this started airing as video on demand on GO’s TV platform,” announced Antonio Ivankovic, Chief Commercial Officer of GO.

Describing the official launch of TOKIS as a significant milestone in the evolution of Malta’s television history, Mr Ivankovic explained that GO’s investment to deliver more Maltese productions on its TV platform stems from the fact that “statistics clearly show that the Maltese community has a clear and strong appetite for local TV content, in particular drama.”

“Since we started our TV journey back in 2007, we focused a lot on the technology, the platform, and the user interface. We knew that if we really wanted to give our customers the experience they were after, we had to deliver more of the content they loved. We also recognised the financial and other resource constraints the industry was facing, limiting the number of dramas that could be produced yearly,” explained Mr Ivankovic.

“We have the technology, the resources, and the demand, so we knew that content had to be the next step in our customer’s experience. So, we not only purchased more of this content, but we also committed a €1 million every year to support the local film industry to deliver new and richer content for our customers and provided the space where this rich content could be maintained,” he added.

TOKIS provides a mix of both new and pre-existing TV content, thus extending the lifespan of such content, allowing some viewers to revisit content they previously enjoyed, and others to enjoy it for the very first time.

In total, 6 new local productions will have been made available on GO’s TV platform until June of next year.

The period drama Chalet, announced in December of last year, was the first announced production in collaboration with GO followed by the announcement of the popular TV series Iċ-Ċaqqufa which will return exclusively to GO Originals this coming December.

In June, GO launched l-iSpettur Leonard, a spin-off from the popular series Simpatiċi. The latest exclusive production was LUNA, which will also air on TOKIS as from this October.

“People are bombarded with different content, across different platforms, most of which is foreign. Today, thanks to TOKIS one can be proud of the rich content available, in the Maltese language, which is available to the local community. It is our way of preserving our heritage, our culture, our language,” concluded Mr Ivankovic.

TOKIS is now available to all GO TV customers as part of their basic package.

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Notte Bianca welcomes record-breaking crowd of 85,000 people for this year’s edition

Oct 2 2022

The Notte Bianca is finally back, and with a bang, as a record 85,000 people attended the iconic Maltese event held in Valletta on Saturday night.

With 50 organised activities including 300 individuals and 548 artists, the night was definitely considered a success, with Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Owen Bonnici calling it a ‘big return’.

The arts and culture festival is one of Malta’s largest national calendar events and welcomes multiple local acts covering music, dance, theatre and more such as Tribali, Manatapu, Sterjotipi and many more.

Festivals Malta Chairman Aaron Zahra stated that the festival’s success shows how important arts and culture are for the Maltese people whilst artistic director Antoine Farrugia highlighted that many activities were tailor-made with specific artists for the event and are not things you would see anywhere else. Meanwhile, Festivals Malta CEO Annabelle Stivala stated that the Notte Bianca is one of the organisation’s largest events, thanking everyone involved for their contribution.

Did you attend the Notte Bianca?

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Both King and late Queen to feature on newly revealed UK coins

Oct 1 2022

The Royal Mint has just unveiled the first look at the 50p piece and a £5 Crown, which will officially be the first coins depicting the new King Charles III.

The King Charles III effigy was crafted by sculptor Martin Jennings, with the official approval of the design already released by the King himself. To keep with tradition, Charles’ effigy faces to the left, which is the opposite direction to the late queen.

The Latin inscription surrounding the effigy reads: “• CHARLES III • D • G • REX • F • D • 5 POUNDS • 2022” which translates to: “King Charles III, by the Grace of God, Defender of the Faith.”

Charles does not wear a crown on the coin, yet another tradition wherein previous kings also did not don the royal head piece. However, Queen Elizabeth II did wear the crown in the five coins produced during her reign.

The currently existing 29 billion coins featuring the queen circulating in the UK and other countries will remain legal tender but will be phased out over time through use.

The Royal Mint made coins featuring the monarch for over 1,100 years, making it Britain’s oldest company. It stated that the coins will be available to collectors next week and in general use before 2022’s end.

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Seven election candidates spent €25,000 on campaign

Oct 1 2022

According to a fresh new report by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, it was found that seven election campaign candidates spent €25,000 on their run for parliament.

Out of these seven election candidates, one was from the Nationalist Party and six were from the Labour Party. Out of those latter six, four were ministers.

However, the findings reported that most election candidates did not provide a list which details the campaign donors. Many declarations were actually found to not necessarily explain the true picture of all these costs.

Candidates are required by law to spend no more than €40,000 should they contest two districts. This applies to expenditures during the official campaign period, which kicks off the moment an election is announced. However, candidates are known to start their campaign mission well before this period.

45% of all candidates within the two major political parties – the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party – declared spending €5,000 during the 2022 general election campaign.

The report also noted how valid prospective candidates can be turned away from contesting elections as they would need to spend a large sum in order to even come close to getting elected.

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