Fawad Chaudhry announces Pakistan's 'first OTT platform'

Independent content creators and the entertainment industry, in general, may be in for some much-needed reform as Fawad Chaudhry, the Federal Minister for Science and Technology, announced Pakistan’s first OTT network.

Chaudhry took to his Twitter handle on Friday to share the news, writing, “We at the Ministry of Science and Technology are all set to launch Pakistan’s first OTT TV (Pak version of #Netflix),” adding that the technical part of the project had already been covered and complete. 

“Have asked PEMRA to prepare a guideline on content and we will be all set to launch in PPP mode, it’ll be just another humble contribution,” he further shared.

We at @MinistryofST are all set to launch Pakistan’s first OTT Tv (Pak version of #Netflix) Technology part is complete have asked PEMRA to prepare a guideline on content and we will be all set to launch in PPP mode, it ll be just another humble contribution..

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 23, 2020

Chaudhry also expressed that he is hopeful that the platform will be functional soon, providing a space for local visionaries. The need for a local OTT platform has been highlighted more in recent months after several Pakistani originals were picked up by Indian streaming platforms.

OTT stands for “over-the-top,” the term used for the delivery of film and TV content via the internet, without requiring users to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite pay-TV services. Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney+ are some of the top streaming services around the world.