Pemra decides to get tough with media

[Naveed Yaseen]

Meeting focuses on revenue share, public service messages
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), during its meeting on Wednesday, took a serious note of the fact that certain satellite TV channels were using extra time for advertisements during their programmes at the expense of viewers, while the maximum time limit for advertisements was 12.5 minutes per hour.

The meeting was chaired by Mushtaq Malik, Chairman Pemra, and participated by Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Mansoor Suhail, secretary Ministry of Interior, chairman FBR, Dr Kaiser Bengali and others, said a press release issued here.

The meeting urged the Pemra to enforce its writ for recovery of outstanding dues such as renewal fee and revenue share at the rate of 5 pc to 7.5 pc, depending upon the category of the license, earnings against advertisements by all the private broadcasters and distribution networks.

The meeting also inquired about the time various channels were devoting to public service messages which, according to the law, should be at least 10 pc of the total transmission time.

The meeting was informed that currently, no channel was airing public service messages according to the agreed terms of the license. The meeting also endorsed the Pemra management’s proposal for initiating the bidding process for grant of FM radio licenses in the Punjab and Sindh for each district.

The meeting also showed grave concern over the airing of unlicensed channels by various cable TV networks across the country. Rebroadcast of BBC programmes on local FM radio stations was also submitted to the authority, which thereof decided that this was an important policy decision. Therefore, the Pemra should seek advice from the federal government at higher level.

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