KARACHI, Jan 18: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority is to grant ‘uplinking' permission to the television channel proposed to be launched by the Pakistan Herald Publications by the end of February, according to an order passed by the Sindh High Court on Thursday.
The PHPL had moved a writ petition against the ban on grant of satellite TV channel license to organisations and individuals operating print media in 2004. It said other newspaper publishers have been allowed to operate TV channels and the relevant provision of the Pemra rules was discriminatory.
The authority said no discrimination was involved and the petitioner publisher would be treated at par with other newspaper organisations. Certain newspaper owners were beaming their telecasts from outside Pakistan and the Pemra had nothing to do with their channels. A consent order in terms of the Pemra statement was passed in the petition on Nov 23, 2005.
While the PHPL application for grant of license was still pending, the authority sought review of the consent order last month, saying that no license could be granted under Rule 17 of the Pemra regulations. The petitioner company, like other print media concerns, could only be granted `uplinking' permission under Rule 29. “The Pemra rule or policy is not discriminatory and it uniformly applies to all cross-media owners.”
Contesting the application, PHPL counsel Muneer A. Malik said the Pemra had moved too late for review of an order passed with its consent. He said the petitioner would have no objection to `uplinking' facility instead of a license if the policy was uniform, consistent and non-discriminatory. It, however, reserved its right to agitate the matter again and challenge the validity of Rule 17 if discriminated against
Justice Munib Ahmed Khan, who heard the application, passed another consent order obliging the Pemra to grant the PHPL the same rights as allowed to other cross-media owners by the end of February. The application for license would be treated as one for uplinking permission and the Pemra could seek additional document/s from the petitioner within seven days. The petitioner would respond within the next seven days and the entire exercise would be completed by the end of next month, the new consent order said.
