More than twenty employees of a free to air television station in Samoa are said to have been have been asked to take a break from work for two weeks because of the station's financial problems.
The ten month old LAUTV station is operated from a leased studio owned by a Christian television service the Graceland Broadcasting Network.
The chief executive officer of LAUTV, Tuiasau Leota Petaia, told local media the station is unable to air commercials and local programmes such as news because of technical problems with an on-air computer and not financial difficulties.
Tuiasau says his staff are taking their Christmas and New Year's break and should be back at work in early January.
Meanwhile Tuiasau is facing a number of charges for failing to pay his employees contributions to the government National Provident Fund over a six month period.
