13 March 2004	Saturday	21 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 12: PTV has decided not to screen cigarette commercials during the ongoing Pakistan-India cricket match series. The first match in the series begins in Karachi on Saturday.

In a press release issued here on Friday, PTV officials said it was a momentous decision considering that cigarette manufacturers were attractive sponsors of cricket matches.

This notwithstanding, PTV has decided to forego the quite considerable income which would have come from cigarette manufacturers.

The decision came in the wake of consistent public outcry against out of proportion cigarette commercials screened during sporting events.

Another important decision taken by PTV with regard to the present cricket series was about limiting commercial advertisement to 60 minutes per match, an improvement over the World Cup series which had 80 minutes of commercials per match.

PTV said viewers could now view the entire bowling throw action in each over.