PEMRA chairman urges cable operators to air more Pakistani channels

KARACHI: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) chairman Mirza Saleem Baig on Friday urged cable operators to air more Pakistani channels, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference, he warned of strict action against cable operators who will be found airing Indian content.

“Cable operators do not have permission to air Indian television channels.”

The chairman further said he was well aware of the issues of the cable operators. “Whatever we are doing, we are doing it for the betterment of the cable operators. We do not want to subdue anyone and want to give relief to them,” he added.

Read more: Pemra directs all channels to strictly adhere to media ethics

We have reduced annual fees of the cable operators, he continued.

He added, Pakistani DTH will be launched by November of this year in Pakistan and the same would be available in the market by December.

According to an estimate, more than two million illegal Indian DTH decoders of Dish TV, TATA SKY, Airtel, VideoCon, SunBig, Reliance etc. have been smuggled in Pakistan. This activity hence, is illegally laundering money worth US$ 200 million per annum out of Pakistan putting loss to national exchequer.

Besides, these illegal DTH are also a source of distribution of illegal & unlicensed TV channels in Pakistan in violation of Pemra laws.