Ban on foreign TV stations puts cable TV operators under pressure
Reporters Without Borders today condemned an order issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on 22 December instructing cable TV operators to stop carrying some 30 foreign TV channels under pain of fines and arrest. Most of the banned channels are Indian.
“It is regrettable at a time of political rapprochement between Pakistan and India that millions of Pakistanis are being denied the right to watch TV channels simply because they are foreign,” the press freedom organisation said.
“The way the PEMRA exercises its authority is worse than chaotic,” Reporters Without Borders continued. “It protects neither free competition, nor the interests of the cable operators, nor the right of Pakistanis to information. The cable operators should be listened to and heeded, not threatened with reprisals.”
The Pakistani government banned all Indian TV channels in 2002 on the grounds that their programming was “contrary to national interest.”
The list of banned foreign channels sent on 22 December to all Pakistani cable operators includes entertainment, sports and news channels. The list names Indian channels such as MM Movie and Star Network, but also National Geographic and Fashion TV. PEMRA spokesman Muhammad Saleem said none of the stations had permission to broadcast in Pakistan.
Khalid Shaikh, the president of the Pakistani Association of Cable Television Operators, said “the damage from such a decision is disastrous for cable TV operators (…) It is also a great loss for the public.”
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The communication minister said at a conference organised by the PEMRA in 2004 that Pakistan should consider lifting a ban on the broadcasting of Indian TV stations in order to improve confidence between the two countries.
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nothing will change. Ppl will continue to recieve and view all the channels that they are addicted to. The only thing that is going to change is the RATE , bhatta or rishwat. It will surely go up.
Geo and many other private Pak channels do show this stuff anyway (gujju serials :yukh:).
What about hum tv? Is that conservative from what I heard?
Face it guys, the direction pakistan is going is not good (ok some non-religious folks won’t agree with me) as even with a liberal pov, watching movies all the time without any emphasis on education etc is not only bad for the health of the society but the progress of the country as well!
^^ Forget liberalism, talk about QUALITY. The quality of Pakistani entertainment was ironically the highest in the years when they had the most perverse kind fo censorship [e.g during the Zia/Nawaz Shareef years]. They have to work a lot on the quality of their content, I really dunno what's happened to all the older lot which was makin such superb drama serials until a few years back. And yes, HUM is headed by Sultana Siddiqui, who has produced many awesome serials and I think she was the head of PTV Khi, not too sure on that. But the banning of the trash channels should only give these a$$es makin loads of money some slack time to work on their CONTENT.
Its a good move to ban the Indian channels if the Paki public thinks that there is a cultural invasion by India.However what would be better is if the Paki channels upped their quality so that people start watching them instead of the Indian ones.
From what I've seen, these Indian channels really are a big hurdle when it comes to household distractions.
I've seen numerous kids come home from shchool and then sit glued to the TV, watching these Indian channels. They could use that time for something more productive but they do not.
I think the answer, though, is not banning channels. Maybe Pakistani channels can come up with some programs that encourage kids to be more academic? Or do more constructive stuff with their time?
Parents can be such idiots too - you wont believe the crap that pakistani parents will LET their kids see in Indian entertainment, and then to top it off they could care less if their kid is failing at school.
why did they ban bharati channels? why?? how would we build cultural ties now? we used to see all these white-skin europeon ladies in bikini dancing with the hero and heoine on indian channels. they used to strengthen cultural ties. why did they do that? awww my cutural ties and the unbiased news media…its over now
why did they ban bharati channels? why?? 
clown: