A fifth of the Maltese population does not watch television and close to half do not listen to radio, a survey by the Broadcasting Authority has found.

According to the study - covering the first three months of this year, 21.7 percent of those interviewed claimed they did not watch television and 0.2 percent said they did not have a television set.

Compared to the same period last year, regular television viewing increased by 1.6 percent and compared to the previous three months it dropped by 6.8 percent.

At 38.18 percent, TVM attained the highest amount of viewers, an increase of 3.48 percent over the previous three months and of 11.3 percent over the same period last year. One TV came second. Canale 5 was the most popular when it came to foreign stations.

The BA said that 46.3 percent of respondents said they did not listen to radio.

With 18.8 percent of listenters, Bay Radio had the highest number of consumers, closely followed by Super One Radio, with 16.7 percent and Calypso, 10.1 percent.