ITV

Tag: Pak cable ops

  • Pak cable ops switch off BBC World News

    Pak cable ops switch off BBC World News

    NEW DELHI: Pakistani cable television operators have begun blocking the BBC‘s international news TV channel, BBC World News, reportedly in response to a documentary broadcast by the channel entitled Secret Pakistan.

    Other foreign channels broadcasting “anti-Pakistan” material have been warned that they too will be blocked.

    The BBC said it was deeply concerned by the move, and called for its channel to be speedily reinstated.
       
    “We condemn any action that threatens our editorial independence and prevents audiences from accessing our impartial international news service,” a BBC spokesperson said. “We would urge that BBC World News… to be reinstated as soon as possible.”

    The two-part BBC documentary questioned the country‘s commitment to tackling Taliban militancy. It argued that some in Pakistan were playing a double game, and quoted US intelligence officials as saying that they had acted as America‘s ally in public while secretly training and arming the Taliban in Afghanistan.

    Correspondents say the Pakistani government is likely to have put pressure on the operators to impose the ban, although Pakistan has denied this. The country‘s High Commission in London said the cable operators had taken the decision to block BBC World News on their own.

    “The government of Pakistan strictly believes in the freedom of press and media,” said a statement from the High Commission.

    The decision to block BBC World News and the warning to other international news channels came after a media uproar in Pakistan over a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border over the weekend.

    The operators called on the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) “to revoke the landing rights of foreign channels” if they were found to be “propagating” information harmful to the country.

    Correspondents say it is not possible to see BBC World News in most Pakistani cities, with the ban expected to be extended to rural areas too.

    Cable Operators Association spokesman Khalid Arain said that no anti-Pakistan foreign channel would “ever” be broadcast in the country. He said BBC World News would only be put back on air if the corporation offered assurances that it would not broadcast anything “against Pakistan”.

  • India, Pak cable ops form SAARC Electronic Media Association

    India, Pak cable ops form SAARC Electronic Media Association

    NEW DELHI: At a time when relationship between India and Pakistan are thawing a bit for the better, Indian and Pakistani cable operators have joined hands to push for a regional body that would take up industry issues in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region.

    The campaign for such a body has been jointly launched by India’s Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh and Pakistan Electronics Media Association (PEMA).

    According to Aavishkar Dish Antenna Sangh founder-president AK Rastogi, “The time has come when an organisation is launched that will work for the interest of cable operators and the cable and broadcast industry in the SAARC region, including interfacing with various governments.”

    SAARC region includes countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. “A meeting of the new organisation, attended by Pakistani and Indian representatives, has been held. Consent from those in other countries had been taken earlier,” Rastogi added.

    Such a body, according to Rastogi, would go a long way in creating awareness about the industry and its intricacies amongst the general populace of various South Asian countries.
    Concurring with Rastogi, PEMA’s founder chairperson Muhammad Ibrahim Rana told Indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of the ongoing 14th Convergence India 2006, that even the Pakistani government has realised the futility of banning Indian TV channels.

    “There is a growing feeling in Pakistan that Indian TV channels like Zee TV, Star Plus, NGC and Sony can be given landing rights with certain riders like inclusion of a certain percentage of Pakistani content on the channels’ Pakistan feed,” Rana said.

    However, these content-related riders are worrying some Indian and foreign broadcasters who have sought permission from the Pakistani authorities to beam there.

    For example, a senior executive of Zee Telefilms, India’s largest vertically integrated media company, said, “These conditions being flaunted by Pakistani authorities for giving a green signal to us will only increase cost and red tapism. Does the Indian government put such conditions on Pakistani channels, including PTV?”

    Pakistan may not see eye to eye with India over various issues, but when it comes to watching Indian cable television, most Pakistanis will tune in faster to Indian general entertainment channels than a runaway rickshaw.

    It is this factor, according to some critics, that has stopped the Pakistani cable industry and subscriber homes from growing as fast as their Indian counterparts.

    While India boasts of over 61 million C&S households, PEMA’s Rana said that the total number of cable TV homes in Pakistan would be approximately 2 million. Though Dubai-based ARY Digital has obtained a DTH licence, it is yet to start the service.

    “But if Indian TV channels agree to about 20 per cent of Pakistani programming on their Pakistan feeds, we don’t see any reason why the likes of Zee and Star cannot be seen in our country,” Rana said, admitting that before a ban was put in place Zee News, notably, had seized a fair market share.

    The SAARC Electronic Media Association can work towards removal of such governmental, political and social barriers, Rana asserted.