Daily Times, Pakistan
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Ban on Indian TV channels strains Quetta's cable business
By Malik Siraj Akbar
QUETTA: Cable operators in Balochistan are facing losses as hundreds of households are cancelling subscriptions or refusing to pay monthly fees, following the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (PEMRA) directive to ban Indian television channels. "Certainly, our business is being affected. But we cannot afford to squabble with PEMRA," admitted one cable operator. Defying PEMRA's directives can have serious consequences for the cable companies: a fine of Rs 1 million and annulment of licence. A PEMRA insider said that the ban has been imposed under the president's instructions. He said that the decision was undertaken because Indian media posed "a threat to the Pakistani culture". However, most PEMRA officials thought that the threat posed by Indian media was 'commercial' rather than 'cultural': slack viewership means scanty advertisements for local channels. Sources in PEMRA said that the ban was not likely to be lifted in the near future. "The cable operators need not wait for lifting of the ban," said a PEMRA official in Islamabad. "If they only rely on the Indian channels then they can shut their businesses," he said.