Geo news is back on air in Pakistan.
Re: Geo is back.
Finally!! for how long?
Re: Geo is back.
Alhamdulilallah. God Bless the Free Media, Free Judiciary, and Presdient Musharaf.
Just as the great President Musharaf said yesterday in Brussels, before he came to power there was only one TV channel - PTV. Now thanks to the great President Musharaf there are fifty channels including Geo, who have promised to abide by the new PEMRA ordinanace.
Re: Geo is back.
Alhamdulilallah. God Bless the Free Media, Free Judiciary, and Presdient Musharaf.
Just as the great President Musharaf said yesterday in Brussels, before he came to power there was only one TV channel - PTV. Now thanks to the great President Musharaf there are fifty channels including Geo, who have promised to abide by the new PEMRA ordinanace.
Are you Indian or Pakistani?
Re: Geo is back.
Are you Indian or Pakistani?
According to some guppies, anyone that praises the great President Musharaf and highlights all the good that has taken place in Pakistan under his great leadership, then they must be an Indian or anti-Pakistan. Additionally, if people highlight something bad about Pakistan and it is not what they want to hear (e.g terrorism eminating from Pakistan), then they must be an Indian or anti-Pakistan. :)
Take you pick. :)
Re: Geo is back.
Aalsi mah man! Don’t be upset. I think you’re Aalsi, the one n only!!! 
Re: Geo is back.
According to some guppies, anyone that praises the great President Musharaf and highlights all the good that has taken place in Pakistan under his great leadership, then they must be an Indian or anti-Pakistan. Additionally, if people highlight something bad about Pakistan and it is not what they want to hear (e.g terrorism eminating from Pakistan), then they must be an Indian or anti-Pakistan. :)
Take you pick. :)
But Its not every day that an Indian questions your nationality. It's time to think about your own anti-pakistan rethoric.
Re: Geo is back.
Pakistan’s private Geo TV back on air
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Broadcasts of Pakistan’s private Geo television network resumed in Pakistan on Monday more than two-and-half months after its transmission was blocked following the imposition of a state of emergency.
Geo News and its sister sports channel came back on the air at 6 p.m. (1300 GMT), hours after President Pervez Musharraf began a four-country trip to Europe where he expected to face tough questions on media curbs and human rights.
Geo was the last channel to come back on the air of several that were blocked when Musharraf imposed emergency rule on November 3, citing rising militancy and a meddling judiciary.
Musharraf lifted the emergency in mid-December but Geo, which made a name for itself with hard-hitting political talk shows, remained blocked on cable channels.
Its broadcasts out of Dubai were available on satellite and via the Internet, although authorities in the United Arab Emirates had blocked its satellite broadcasts for several weeks in November and December.
Geo officials were not immediately available for comment but a government minister said on Sunday the channel’s broadcasts had been given the go-ahead after it signed a government code of conduct.
“Once they signed the code of conduct, like everybody else, we have no problem,” said Information Minister Nisar Memon.
The network’s two entertainment channels were restored on the cable in Pakistan in the third week of December, but its news and sports channels remained shut until they were restored on Monday.
Spurred by new technology and unrestrained by censors, Pakistan’s media, in particular television, has flourished over recent years with dozens of new channels springing up.
Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, had hailed the liberated media as one of his government’s main achievements.
But relations between Musharraf and the independent media began to sour in March when he tried to dismiss the country’s chief justice, unleashing a storm of protest from lawyers and the pro-democracy opposition.
Musharraf has accused some television channels of adding to the political uncertainty that led him to impose emergency rule.
**But critics said the state of emergency was aimed at neutralizing legal challenges to Musharraf’s moves to secure a new five-year term as president in an October election by legislators while he was still army chief.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSISL21081920080121?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10003
**
Re: Geo is back.
^ Excellent news. I cant wait for Dr. Shahid Masood and his weather forecasts. :D
Re: Geo is back.
^ Excellent news. I cant wait for Dr. Shahid Masood and his weather forecasts. :D
jhootay
Re: Geo is back.
^ I am missing his weather predictions. 
Re: Geo is back.
** President orders Geo back on air**
Cable operators to connect Geo this evening; viewers can watch from tomorrow morning
ISLAMABAD: President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf on Saturday ordered Geo News and its Sports channel back on the air with immediate effect.
Pakistan’s largest and most popular news network will thus come back to Pakistani homes after an unprecedented absence of 78 days.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) will ask cable operators this evening to connect Geo and viewers will start watching the popular channel from tomorrow morning.
Geo disappeared from television screens at 2pm on November 3, four hours before the proclamation of Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) as well the Ammended Pemra Ordinance, which many considered a retrogressive step in media development that the country was enjoying under the current government. While, all national and foreign news channels were banned a few hours before the emergency, however Geo’s case was distinct to begin with as even its sports, youth and entertainment channels also disappeared from television screens.
On November 3 the government brought the new Amended Pemra Ordinance 2007 that was immediately followed by a new code of conduct for the electronic media on November 4. This code of conduct, that was supposed to be a voluntary agreement on behalf of the electronic media, just like the act that preceded it, contained provisions such as the imprisonment of journalists up to three years, revocation of broadcast licences and the confiscation of equipment. It became a bone of contention between the government and the electronic media. However, by November 12 the government was successful in negotiating certain conditions which allowed most channels back on the air, including CNBC, Dawn News, Aaj TV and Business Plus as they signed the code of conduct.
Geo and ARY networks remained banned on Pakistan’s cable systems. They continued their international broadcasts from Dubai Media City (DMC) and in addition to the large Pakistani diasporas across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the United States they were available to anyone who had a satellite dish fitted.
However, on December 16 the DMC took the decision of stopping the international broadcasts of both these channels. Though Ms Amina Rustamani, Executive Director of Dubai Media City, cited some internal regulations but the decision was generally perceived to be taken under pressure from the government of Pakistan. On November 22 ARY resumed its broadcasts from DMC. It was soon allowed back inside Pakistan as well. Geo for all practical purposes became the last one standing.
The financial impact of this ban for Geo network was unprecedented, as its entertainment and sports channels were also not available inside Pakistan despite the fact that the Ordinance did not target non-news channels. Geo Super had just secured the rights to the India-Pakistan cricket series, an event bigger than the Ashes in terms of its importance in sports, and lost $15 million, most of the money paid upfront. In total the network’s loss is estimated to be between Rs 150-200 crores, enough to have endangered the livelihood of over 10,000 employees that depend on it. The state broadcaster, PTV, was in agreement with Geo, on a revenue sharing basis, to show the cricket series on its terrestrial distribution but without giving any explanation it stopped airing after the first day’s matches. This was a huge blow to sports as the nation’s only sports channel’s viability came under question and caused huge disappointment for most people in Pakistan who couldn’t watch the historic series, despite it being an event that could have had a calming effect from the events that were happening around the country.
Geo Television that started its broadcasts on August 14, 2002, marking its inauguration with Pakistan’s Independence Day, has been hugely popular. In the January of 2004, New York Times commented that “Geo has changed Pakistan’s media landscape”. In August 2007, a survey by the Herald Magazine, a prestigious publication allied with the Dawn Group, concluded that 68% of the public trusted Geo for information as compared to merely 11% for the state broadcaster, PTV and 7% for ARY and Aaj respectively. And in 2007 the International Brand Rating Organisation, Super Brands, declared Geo and Jang Group the top media brands of Pakistan.
Given this popularity, public attachment and market position, Geo’s sudden disappearance from television screens was soon perceived as a void in Pakistani homes; many were quoted as saying they had stopped watching television. Thousands of journalists protested and hundreds of the general public, from all walks of life, thronged the Geo offices, in all cities, to demonstrate and sign message books expressing their love and solidarity. There was a rush to buy satellite dishes across Pakistan, which led at one stage to the government banning the sale of satellite dish.
Former prime minister late Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and US Ambassador to Pakistan Ms Anne Patterson were among the notables who visited the Geo offices to express support to the Geo team and to demand lifting of the ban on its transmissions inside Pakistan. Others like former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, and MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain showed grave concern and demanded resumption of its transmissions. Even Mushahid Hussain, secretary general of the then ruling party PML-Q, termed the decision to ban Geo a mistake.
Geo had made it clear, from the very beginning, that it along with others in the media, was very critical of the code of conduct as well as the amended Pemra Ordinance. However, it had made it clear that it was willing to sign the code of conduct because the Ordinance itself was a lot worse and was law. However, the government did not approach Geo.
Geo did, however, go to the Sindh High Court with a principled position that, like other channels, it was taken off air inside Pakistan a few hours before the proclamation of emergency and the PCO and therefore it never had any opportunity to work under the new code of conduct or the much more severe Ordinance or to violate it.
Between the first week of November and December 4, 2007, the Sindh High Court heard this case five times. The federal government that was represented by the deputy attorney general never stated the government position. At one point the deputy attorney general told the court that since Geo is banned from Dubai Media City it is not available inside Pakistan. However, by the time the fourth hearing took place, Dubai Media City, after facing mounting criticism of the international media, human rights and other watchdog organisations, had already allowed Geo to resume its broadcasts and the judge told the deputy attorney general to clarify the matter as a decision has to be taken. However, at the next hearing on December 4 the court decided that given the state of emergency in the country Geo’s petition is not maintainable.
After the end of emergency Geo approached the Supreme Court which on Jan 7, 2008 remanded the case to the Sindh High Court with the observation that it is maintainable and should be decided within one month on merit. In the second week of Jan 2008 the Paris-based international media monitor, Reporters Sans Frontiers, identified five problems with Pakistan’s media coverage for the forthcoming elections on February 18 and identified the continuing ban on Geo News, the country’s largest news network, as one of the main hurdles.
Finally the office of the president intervened and despite his busy schedule before his pending trip to Brussels to speak to the European parliament, London and the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Musharraf was gracious to find time for meetings on the issue and ordered that Pakistan’s largest and most popular news network be immediately made available inside Pakistan.
Geo and the government spokesman claim that many issues have been resolved between the two parties, but some are still left and it is hoped that they would be resolved very soon.
Re: Geo is back.
Good for Geo... May they continue to report on Musharafs evil tyrany until he is forced to step down in shame...
Re: Geo is back.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/25178.html
Pakistan’s leader eases grip on TV but bans some journalists
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers
Tim Johnson / MCT
Absar Alam, the bureau chief for Geo-TV, Pakistan’s largest cable television network, oversees dozens of reporters in the Islamabad bureau. | View larger image
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf relaxed his chokehold on Pakistan’s airwaves Monday, allowing the nation’s largest and most popular television network back on the air 79 days after he forced it to go dark.
But Geo-TV’s restoration to cable systems across the country came at a high price. Its owner, like those of other networks, had to agree not to criticize Musharraf, the military, foreign policy or the judiciary, and to limit visual images of terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Also, at least five public-affairs program hosts and news anchors remained blacklisted from the cable channel.
“Musharraf has some personal disliking for me,” said Hamid Mir, a journalist whose public affairs program, “Capital Talk,” was one of the most influential in the nation before Musharraf pulled the plug Nov. 3.
Shahid Masood, the once-popular host of an Urdu-language public affairs program, now is working at a Geo-TV bureau in Dubai. “They pressured management to fire me,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m on the top of the (black)list.”
The disappearance of the blacklisted journalists and talk-show hosts from Geo-TV and other networks is no small affair in Pakistan, where the end of a state television monopoly in 2002 had led to an explosion of networks and the emergence of a galaxy of public affairs show hosts, newscasters and star interviewers.
“The TV anchors who do these talk shows are more popular than TV actors,” said Mazhar Abbas, the head of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, a trade group.
It was Musharraf who’d initially opened up the airwaves.
“Pakistanis were tuning into Indian channels to find out information about Pakistan,” said Adnan Rehmat, the head of Internews Pakistan, a watchdog group. So Musharraf allowed private networks to emerge alongside the dour state PTV to wean back viewers.
The nation’s largest media group — the owner of the Urdu-language Jang newspaper and The News, published in English — created Geo-TV, the biggest of the new channels. It and other private channels sparked a sensation.
Musharraf first came into conflict with the new television networks last March, when he tried to sack former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The showdown drew around-the-clock news coverage, much of it favorable to Chaudhry.
When Musharraf declared emergency rule in November, he took aim at the 60 or so new television channels.
Amid mounting financial pressure, Geo-TV’s owner, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, signed the “code of conduct” restricting coverage a few weeks ago. Yet the government kept his news channel and Geo Super sports channel off the air until Monday.
He’s relocated to Dubai, taking his family with him.
“He was threatened. He was chased. A bullet was fired on the office of his personal assistant in Karachi, but (he) stood by his principles,” Mir, one of Geo-TV’s blacklisted anchors, wrote in an e-mail. “He’s paid a very heavy price.”
With elections looming Feb. 18, and Musharraf eager to convince the world that he isn’t muzzling the media before the vote, he made the announcement while he was on an eight-day visit to Europe.
Masood, the banned program host, pondered how journalists allowed back on the air would wrestle with the new restrictions.
“How can you have a news channel if you cannot discuss foreign and defense policy?” Masood asked.
Added Mir, his banned colleague: “I don’t think it’s a clear victory.”
Re: Geo is back.
so that proves he is dictator like hitlor
cause thats what dictators do
one man controlling f***n everu thing
Re: Geo is back.
I watched ‘Hum Sub Umeed Sai Hain’ last night.
I was very disappointed not to see the Parody of the great President Musharaf in this programme.
However, I am happy to see ‘Capital Talk’ back online. But disappointed that there is no Hamid Mir.
Is GEO becoming too Pro-Musharaf. Even more so than PTV. Maybe GEO should be renamed to ‘GEO MUSHARAF’. 
Re: Geo is back.
^I'm pretty sure you are the least to worry about these unfortunate changes.
Re: Geo is back.
^I'm pretty sure you are the least to worry about these unfortunate changes.
I am very disappointed. I used to enjoy the parody of great President Musharaf. At least they still have Shaukat Aziz.
Re: Geo is back.
^Switch to AAG Tv you have Chachu Bush and his companions.....I love that most.