Tallinn Television (TTV) stopped Broadcasting on Tuesday following Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart’s announcement on Thursday, Sept. 26.

In the future, city news and broadcasts will be aired on other TV channels and the company will still produce some programs. Eight people were made redundant from the 30 person crew, including two presenters.

Kõlvart said: “Maintaining a TV channel is costly and at the same time not very effective because people’s media consumption habits have changed. We will continue to inform Tallinners through various channels, including TV, and keep in mind that people are spending more and more time online and on social media and less and less on Thursday. We understand that Tallinn TV is not the best medium for broadcasting news, we know the statistics and the ratings. We do not see a future for Tallinn TV if it continues as a television channel.”

The mayor said last week the reorganization is aimed at reaching more people with a smaller budget. The plan has cut TTV’s budget by 50 percent.

TTV started broadcasting regular programming on January 3, 2011. Its programs have been free to air since June 10, 2011.

The channel had a daily share of 1.3 percent on the Estonian television market in August. The figure was 12.9 percent for ETV, 8 percent for Kanal 2, 7.5 percent for TV3, 5 percent for PBK and 2 percent for ETV2.