PEMRA authority, in its 109th meeting held on Wednesday approved suspension of Royal TV license for non-payment of fine and failing to air apology for telecasting highly vulgar and abusive remarks against anchorperson Mubashar Lucman in its talk shows dated 25 and 26 November 2015.
The authority decided to suspend the license and transmission of Royal TV till the compliance of its orders in letter & spirit.
The council of complaints Lahore in its meeting of 11 January had recommended imposition of Rs. 100,000 fine on Royal TV for using abusive language against Mubashar Lucman in two subsequent programmes “Issue of the Day”.
The council had also recommended for suspension of Royal TV channel if it fails to pay fine within 15 days. The recommendations of the council were approved by the chairman, being competent, under delegated powers of the authority. Since, the channel has failed to comply with the said orders; the license of Royal TV is therefore suspended.
The authority has also approved suspension of Sohni Dharti channel’s license for violating PEMRA Laws, terms and conditions of its license. The channel is non-operational for almost two years without any reason or approval from the authority, violating Section 28 of PEMRA Act, despite being provided with repeated opportunities.
Meanwhile, the case of revocation of satellite TV license of Rohi TV was referred back to the council of complaints for review. Other important decisions by the Authority include approval of change in management of Urdu-1 TV and Neo TV channels on their own request. Authority also approved the transfer of license of “Dawn News English” from M/s Aurora Broadcasting Services (Pvt.) Ltd. to M/s City News Network (SMC-Pvt.) Ltd. in the name of “City 41”.
To facilitate its licensees, authority also approved the simplification of cable TV licensing procedure by reducing the un-necessary documentation which was causing inordinate delay in awarding cable licenses.
