PEMRA has served a last warning to all cable TV operators of the country, asking them to immediately stop distributing TV channels which are otherwise illegal or proscribed by the authority.
No channel, other than PEMRA licensee, would be let distributed on cable TV networks, and any operator found defying the orders henceforth would be dealt seriously, said a PEMRA statement issued on Sunday.
The action would pave way for PEMRA licensed channels on distribution networks, which were hitherto being ignored as most of the space was occupied by the unauthorized foreign channels, leaving no space for licensed channels on distribution networks.
PEMRA has issued a list of eligible channels containing 87 Pakistani origin channels and 26 foreign channels registered with the authority. Cable operators, however, have the liberty to choose channels amongst the eligible list to offer to the subscribers. However, no channel other than those featuring on the permissible list of PEMRA would be allowed. Besides, the cable operators will also bound to relay national broadcaster (PTV) channels, which are mandatory under PEMRA law.
In this recent bid, PEMRA enforcement team had also raided head-ends of a number of cable TV operators across the country and impounded gadgets being used for distributing illegal/proscribed channels. PEMRA resolved that such actions would continue till sanity creeps into the electronic media.
PEMRA believes in freedom of information and choice, but it must be coupled with social responsibility, ethics and generally accepted standards of decency and morality. The freedom does not constitute unbridled freedom putting the repute of nation and institutions at stake, stated the press release.