Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) initiated an action against more than 100 illegal, unregistered satellite TV channels being on-aired through cable distribution networks all across the country.
These illegal / unregistered channels were not only violating PEMRA laws but also were incurring huge financial losses to the government exchequer, the authority said in a statement.
Furthermore, these illegal satellite channels have blocked the space which as per laws is a legal right of local satellite TV channels which are licenced / registered by PEMRA since 2002.
This action was therefore, taken in a bid to create space for legitimate satellite TV channels which have obtained licences and paid their respective dues to the Authority. PEMRA being a regulator is steadfast to promote its licencees and this initiative has been taken to support local broadcast industry.
Cable TV networks in Pakistan are operating on analog technology, restricting their channel capacity to 90. Whereas, PEMRA has granted 82 licences for satellite TV channels and 28 permissions for Landing Rights, these licenced channels are facing exploitation from cable distribution networks either by not carrying them on their respective networks or by tuning them at the last numbers having poor signal quality.
In order to increase their subscription, Cable TV operators, generally, prefer foreign satellite TV channels which on the contrary are illegal for distribution purposes.
Moreover, action taken by PEMRA was across the board without discriminating channels airing foreign or Pakistani content, in any genre i.e. entertainment, sports, kids, news/ currents affairs etc. Notwithstanding, this action has been taken in order to protect legitimate rights of licenced satellite TV channels and to pursue other channels to get them registered / licenced with PEMRA. Once all the satellite TV channels banned at the moment are registered / licenced by PEMRA, they will be allowed for distribution through cable TV networks.
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