Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday informed the senate that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issues licences to cable TV operators while following the set rules and procedures.
Replying to a question in the upper house of the parliament, the minister said that there was a set procedure for the issuance of licences to cable TV operators and that section 19 of PEMRA ordinance empowers the authority to issue licences for the establishment and operation of all broadcast media and distribution services.
She said that during recent enforcement drive against the illegal Indian DTH started from October 16, 2016, around 112 illegal cable TV networks were found operational without licences.
She added that the authority has taken action against these networks and closed their operations on the basis of illegal content. She added that there was a monitoring mechanism which was being implemented by PEMRA.
The minister said that there was also a mechanism to monitor the quality of cable operators. She added that the licences necessitate that cable operators maintain the quality of channels, while any individual can also lodge a complaint in case of low quality of channels and the authority may take action on any such complaint.
She said that the ministry has enhanced the activities of Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and that contracts have been established to successfully run these activities.
She said that the ministry has started working on restructuring five of its departments, including the Information Service Academy (ISA), Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC), Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), Cyber Wing, and Press Information Department (PID).
In a written reply, the minister said that PEMRA has so far issued 3994 cable TV licenses in four provinces. She added that the authority has served show cause notices to 174 cable TV networks during the past six months across the country for committing various violations.
She said that the show cause notices were issued on account of non-payment of dues, non-submission of required documents, and relaying excessive in-house CD and proscribed channels, among other violations.
She said that around 135 of the show cause notices were served as a result of PEMRA’s drive against illegal Indian DTH. Cable operators were given reasonable time to reply to the show cause while personal hearings have also been scheduled to conclude legal proceedings.
She said that there were 16 separate organisations in the information and broadcasting division and that each organisation had its own separate sanctioned and working strength.