Zurab Alasania has been appointed as Director General of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC). He was elected by the Supervisory Board from a shortlist of eight potential candidates.

Alasania led the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) from 2014 until his resignation last November following disagreements regarding the funding allocated to the broadcaster.  After graduating in civil engineering, Alasania moved into television journalism. In 2000 he cofounded the Objective Media Group, where he served as director and, six years later, launched the Media Port agency alongside a weekly newspaper, the MediaPost. He was Director of the Kharkiv Regional State Television and Radio and cofounded the Ukrainian internet TV station Hromadske.tv.

Alasania played a critical role in establishing NTU as a public service broadcaster. At the beginning of this year, UA:PC was established to bring together regional broadcasters, radio and culture into one single entity. The EBU will continue to support UA:PBC in its transformation.