Pakistan’s media regulator (PEMRA) has started taking action on Indian channels being carried Pakistan’s cable operators and those selling ‘grey’ market Indian satellite STBs which are being imported into the country.

BBC Monitoring is reporting that PEMRA teams have taking action against 125 cable operators and seized their illegal equipment. PEMRA Chairman Absar Alam during media briefing at PEMRA HQ last week said that Pakistan Broadcasters Association has cooperated in this regard and stopped airing foreign content voluntarily but some channels were violating PEMRA rules. He said that soon an inquiry would be completed against those channels which violated the PEMRA rules and would be shut down.

Alam added that “the mafia” in the country who were using DTH transmissions and were transferring   billions of rupees illegally. He stated that PEMRA has found out the bank accounts which were being used in these illegal transactions adding that 15 parties have submitted applications to get Pakistani DTH.

He said that soon Pakistani DTH license would be issued by open tenders which would be started from Rs 200 million to three parties. Answering a question Absar Alam said that recommendations in this regard have been forwarded to Pakistan’s federal government requesting permission to deal with India. Absar Alam warned citizens to remove DTH dishes from their houses voluntarily otherwise they will also face legal action.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Policy, Regulation