Maestro TV station announced on March 23 about merger with Tbilisi-based FM radio station Ucnobi, which will be rebranded under the name Maestro.

As a result Giorgi Gachechiladze, co-founder of Ucnobi radio station, became 50% shareholder of the Maestro TV, the latter’s general director, Ilia Kakabadze, said in a statement.

Giorgi Gachechiladze, a singer with a nickname Ucnobi (unknown), was one of the key figures behind opposition’s lengthy street protest rallies in 2009 through his reality show on Maestro TV.

He is brother of Levan Gachechiladze, one of the leaders of the opposition Georgian Party.

One of the co-founder of the Georgian Party, among Levan Gachechiladze and some other opposition figures, is Erosi Kitsmarishvili, Georgia’s former ambassador to Russia and former co-owner of Rustavi 2 television stations.

Kitsmarishvili is a founder of Rustavi Media Management Company, which manages Maestro TV under the three-year contract signed in November, 2009.

Before the recent deal on merger, Maestro TV was co-owned by ten of its founders each holding 10% of shares. The TV station’s general director, Ilia Kakabadze, told Georgian media-related news website Media.ge that each of the Maestro TV co-owner handed over part of their shares “proportionally”.

In the statement Kakabadze said that the initial tentative deal, which aimed “at strengthening of freedom of speech”, was first made between Maestro TV and Ucnobi radio station back in 2006.

“Maestro TV and radio stations will remain objective and unbiased media outlets,” the statement reads.