ISLAMABAD: The Pemra Board on Tuesday granted sweeping powers to its chairman Absar Alam to revoke or suspend the licences of TV channels, cable operators or FM radios airing foreign content without even issuing them prior notices.

However, rights activists opposed the grant of such powers to a single individual.

“We are opposed to shutdowns and bans. Granting of powers of the authority to the chairman is even more unfair because under the law Pemra has been granted the power to shut down any channel, not an individual,” I. A. Rehman, a veteran human rights activist, told Dawn.

He said channels or anybody who violated the law should be dealt with in accordance with the law instead of giving sweeping powers to an individual. “It can pave the way for discrimination and victimisation of any channel or individual,” he warned.

Later in the day, film and mini-screen drama producers demanded the government ban all foreign content, mainly the Indian ones, on TV channels because it was eating up the local industry.

Pemra authorises chairman to revoke or suspend licences of TV channels airing foreign content

The United Producers Association (UPA) organised a discussion, ‘Debate on foreign content on Pakistani entertainment TV channels’ and criticised the airing of foreign dramas, especially the Indian shows, on various TV channels.

Reciprocating the actions by certain elements in the Indian film industry, the chairman UPA and the head of Eveready Pictures, Satish Anand, announced to stop the display of Indian films in Pakistani cinemas.

However, he said, their case against airing of the Indian content in TV channels had been pending with the Sindh High Court for several years. In this regard, he added, they had also held meetings with parliamentarians.

He criticised the TV channels for opting for the Indian content against the local productions.

“The channels, especially the smaller ones, make upfront payments to buy Indian content whereas our credits are not cleared for long. This is not a fair treatment with us,” he added.

The UPA members spoke about the negative impact on their industry due to the influx of Indian and Turkish content but said they supported a competitive environment.

“We are not afraid of competition but the problem is we are small compared to the Indian entertainment industry and want to avoid a situation that Pakistani entertainment sector would die down due to the inflow of the Indian content,” said Samina Ahmed, a former actress and founding member of the UPA. She said the Indian shows were eating up all the time in Pakistani channels.

“Unfortunately, now when the entertainment industry has started growing, the channels are not giving time to Pakistani productions,” she added.

Some of the producers present in the debate, who are said to be making regular production for the ISPR, claimed that the industry needed the portrayal of the realistic and soft image of Pakistan.

To the delight of the UPA members, Pemra Chairman Absar Alam announced that all channels, cable operators or FM radios airing excessive foreign content would face shutdown without any show-cause notice after October 15.

He said the current regional situation and public opinion would help Pemra in its drive to streamline the channels.

He also said most of Pakistani dramas were about extramarital affairs and there was a need to diversify the productions to all segments of society and include topics such as comedy and children programmes.

Published in Dawn October 5th, 2016