PEMRA authority committee has suspended the license of private TV channel, APNA TV Channel (Pvt.) Ltd. (Jalwa TV) for seven days, from April 29, 2017 till May 6, 2017 for airing indecent/obscene content on March 30, 2017 and April 4, 2017. This decision was taken in a meeting of the Authority Committee at the PEMRA Headquarters on Wednesday.
Jalwa TV is also directed to air an apology to the general public immediately after resumption of transmission on May 6, 2017. Moreover, tickers/scroll pertaining to apology shall also be aired during the regular transmission of “Jalwa TV.”
Jalwa TV is further directed to deploy and properly utilize time-delay mechanism and constitute an in-house editorial committee to ensure compliance of the code of conduct.
PEMRA had received a number of complaints on the indecent songs that were aired on “Jalwa TV” and it had issued show cause notices to the channel on April 5, 2017 for a personal hearing. After reviewing the complaints and analyzing the written reply of the channel, it turned out that the channel had violated Section 20 (f) of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA Act 2007, Rule 15(1) of PEMRA Rules 2009 and clauses 3(1)(a), 3(1)(e), and 12 of Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisement) Code of Conduct 2015. Instructions have been given to PakSat to immediately stop the transmission of Jalwa TV from April 29, 2017 till May 6, 2017. In a separate order, all distribution networks and cable operators have also been directed to take the channel off air. In case of non-compliance of PEMRA’s decision, the authority shall proceed against the channel for revocation of its license under Section 30 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002.
The authority committee meeting was attended by member KPK Shaheen Habibullah, Chairman PTA Dr. Syed Ismail Shah, Secretary Information Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Secretary Interior Tariq Mehmood Khan whereas the meeting was chaired by Chairman PEMRA Absar Alam.