Network Television Marketing - thats what they called this new channel that went on year sometime in the late 80’s.
Anyone who grew up in the 80’s will fondly remember that era. People’s lives revolved around the TV in those days and when NTM was launched, it was sort of a NOVELTY - I mean it was an experience almost out of this world to watch something (anything) on TV, past midnight. At that time PTV closed its transmission around 11:30 PM or so and then the TV set went dead.
BUT - NTM changed all that. Although when it started it just showed CNN all day long, and people were surprized and took some time to swallow the fact that news CAN be shown on TV 24/7 - There were those world reports and cute anchors etc. to keep the interest alive. And does anyone remember the “malmal ka duppatta” that supposedly allowed the viewers to see the censored fashion segments
They also aired the latest sitcoms and TV shows from around the world, which became a household name in those days. Some of them I remember, i.e. ALF, Manimal, Cover up, Garrison’s Gorillas, Miami Vice, etc… Then later they also showed some great urdu plays on NTM..
oh boy - those were the days :k:
Share your thoughts.. if you are one of those who saw the launch of NTM and can relate to that era.
I didn't exactly witness the launch of NTM as I was only in Pakistan from 93 to 96, but can relate to some of the things you said - esp. regarding shows past midnight. I remember they used to play Strings songs almost religiously every night.
For English programming, it was the channel of choice at the time like you said, and they improved their Urdu programming over time with some engrossing dramas as well. I remember watching Doosra Aasmaan and Kashkol on the channel in those days.
Their b r a n d ing was a little confusing though... officially, the were called NTM as well as STN ??
…AND THEN…CAME THE “CONSUMERISM or COMMERCIALISM” THAT EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE WHILE ENTERTAINMENT A FAR CRY NOW----AND ALSO TAHIR KHAN LANDING UP WITH “TV-One”
omg, it was literally the best time of my life. they had urdu cartoon. how cool was that?? i loved one of the cartoon series which was camp candy. i tried finding it online but never found it.
i also loved one of their drama called nangay pa'on it had rahat kazmi.
aray yaar kya yaad kara diya....stn/ntm koi bhala bhoolney wali cheez hai.....btw i think it came in 90z???? no???? so reminds me of 90z wala pak....yeah still remember that they used to show cnn all the time...and i used to hate it coz news samajh main nahi ati thi, politics se koi khaas lagao nahi tha aur shayad itni taiz english bhi kabhi us time boli/suni nahi thi, lolz.....sirf stn aur ptv hota tha with quality work.....yeah they started showing 3 hours of cartoon network (tnt) which went down to 2 hours on some monther's complaint...those cartoons in urdu were great like denvor the last dinosaur, camp candy (meena ke saath-though used to come on ptv)....and shows/dramas like video junction, music channel charts, nangay paaon, andhere dareechay, ashiyaana, pase aaina, mystery theatre, family front, hip hip hurray, lollywood top ten (cant exactly recall the name and i think it was hosted by nadia khan)....and i cannot forget the man who introduced concept of musical telefilms MR YASIR AKHTER (singer (arid zone, actor, producer, director)...those were called tapal telefilms and they showed telefilms like rahain which featured the song chandni tu mere sur ki roshni), zeher (saathi mujhe milgaya) kashish (zara man ko dekhna), titli....and he is the one who introduced humayon seed, javeria abbassi, ali afzal, shamoon abbassi-though humayon had already done some other dramas before telefilm zeher but this telefilm gave him a lot of recognition and even an award. and i cant forget how they used to show those nostalgic lovely ads of stillmans, olivia, samsol etc etc....no channel can take ntm's place...i literally wish that they start ntm/stn again to show all those progs ya kisi doosre channel pe hi stn ke saare progs dikha dain.
80's aur 90's ka pakistan aaj ke pakistan say kitna mukhtalif tha...
although NTM was a private channel but their dramas were at par with PTV... Chand Girhan , Kashkol, and Dasht were extremely popular . people used to find chand girhan too bold compared to PTV dramas(PTV had a strict dupatta policy).
didn't see much of NTM. but whatever I did see I liked. they tried to do different things which is always welcome... they used to have this talk show which the super talented Sajid Hassan used to host. it was called Weekend something. he interviewed NFAK and Alam Channa in it... I still remember those shows.
they used to air good dramas too. I think Parosi (a play with Marina Khan, Khalida Riyasat, Badar Khalil, Ali Ijaz, Jamal Shah) was aired on NTM. it was a good play. it had a lovely Ali Haider song in it as well. can't remember it... it was beautiful.
another play that I can't remember the name of was shot in black and white. it had all the pretty boys of the 90s in it, Adnan Siddiqi, Aijaz Asalam, etc... it wasn't that great or anything but most importantly, it had this adorable girl in it. she was also in an Eid play called Chand Sa Mukhra with Ali Haider before that. after that Eid play aired, half the school was in love with her... then, she showed up in that NTM play... don't know her name. but she was very pretty.
NTM started after I had already left Pakistan. But we did catch their dramas on video here in the US like Dasht, Chand Girhan, Kashkol etc.
Same here and those dramas would come one cassette at a time. Had to wait weeks at a time to get the next one. Once in a while all 4-5 tapes would come together ..... and that would be such a happy occasion, LOL.
I think it was the early 90’s when NTM started…?
There used to be a cartoon then a sitcom followed by some drama and maybe other programming…
oh how I remember we used to finish up school work just to watch the evening TV…
NTM - A former Shalimar Television Network Channel
The Network Television Marketing was Pakistan’s first ever private sector Television Channel. NTM had started its transmission in 1990 under a 3-year agreement with Shalimar Recording & Broadcasting Company (STN).
NTM succeeded in acquiring much popularity for its plays, stage and music shows. NTM introduced lot of youngsters as comperes and announcers, like Sania Saeed, Atiqa Odho, Humayoon Saeed, Nadia Khan, Fakhr-e-Alam, Khalid Anum and many more.
- There were those world reports and cute anchors etc. to keep the interest alive. And does anyone remember the “malmal ka duppatta” 
that supposedly allowed the viewers to see the censored fashion segments 
for people then. NTM was the first alternate for people then to kill time after 11pm. Good old days!