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TUBETIME: PTV: changes in the air?
With the departure of Yousuf Beg Mirza and the arrival of Akhtar Viqar Azeem at the helm of PTV’s ship, major changes are in the offing for the national network. The most significant development, as revealed to the press recently by director of programmes Shoukat Pervaiz, is that Pakistan Television intends to launch Channel 4 through satellite. The focus of the new channel’s programming will be software in regional languages. Channel 4, a working title, is set for a May 31st launch.
Cognizant of the fact that the measly hour that is dedicated to regional programming at all five PTV centres was not enough to showcase regional talent and highlight local affairs, PTV’s top brass felt that it was their responsibility as a public service set-up to promote regional culture. When questioned why the network took the initiative to promote regional tongues so late in the day, it was revealed that previously, the station could not devote the time to developing a channel exclusively catering to regional programming.
Apart from Urdu, PTV also produces programmes in the Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi, Pushto, Hindko, Potohari, Balochi and Brauhi languages. Delineating the details of the new set-up, Shoukat Pervaiz stated that the “fully-fledged” Channel 4 would be a 24-hour operation with a daily broadcast of eight hours, which would be repeated twice to complete the daily cycle. Every province would be allotted two hours a day, in which one hour would be used to rebroadcast any of the running serials that are shown regionally in the hour dedicated to such programmes on PTV-1, with the second hour of the 120-minute provincial quota to be filled with archival material, as there was a rich store of musical programmes, quiz shows and other cultural packages in the closets of each respective centre.
Referring to the recent decision to disallow private production companies to purchase the prime time slot (8 to 9pm), the director programmes insisted that the choice to take in-house productions during prime time was a measure taken to stem the rot that has overtaken serials
This should work to alleviate the concerns of critics who argue that regional artists and writers don’t have a voice in the national television milieu. One extremely positive undertaking will be that all the serials will be subtitled in Urdu, thus helping foster a spirit of national cohesion. Apart from the obvious audience within Pakistan, Pervaiz said that the station has kept the Pakistani Diaspora in mind, as there are a significant number of overseas Pakistanis whose mother tongue is not Urdu and who wish to enjoy serials and variety programmes in their own languages. Locally, the channel will be available through cable, not aerial, and cable operators are bound by law to carry all of PTV’s channels, stated the director of programmes. It remains to be seen how faithful the wily cable-wallahs remain to their legal obligations.
When questioned how PTV will sustain a financially viable channel when it had been said that the station’s refusal to increase the daily regional slot to two hours was due to there being no market for regional programmes, PTV’s top brass seemed confident that they had all bases covered, especially in regard to the smooth financial running of Channel 4. Shoukat Pervaiz quite confidently claimed that there would be no financial problems that the new entity would encounter.
Another major change PTV will be experiencing is that its aging equipment, said to be pushing the 20-year mark, is being completely replaced. Apparently, the new MD, who is close to Prime Minister Jamali, intimated to the premiere the concerns of the station’s technical staff, mentioning the fact that it was getting more difficult to create and run quality programming on the rustic set-up. The prime minister promptly pledged Rs40 crore, which has already been received by the station, along with a further infusion of Rs35 crore to come next year, for the refurbishment of PTV’s equipment.
Referring to the recent decision to disallow private production companies to purchase the prime time slot (8 to 9pm), Pervaiz insisted that the choice to put in place in-house productions during prime time was a measure taken to stem the rot that has overtaken serials. But he made a good point when he stated that PTV didn’t want to totally suspend the business of the private production houses, hence the station has not totally blacked out private productions from its schedule. Also, he suggested that private production houses could feed the demand of the many burgeoning private channels that are sprouting up in the local media environment.
Along with the developments on the programming, production and technical side, PTV has also set into motion the process of setting up a TV centre in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir to facilitate the local populace at the request of the AJK government.
With the advent of ethnic and regionally-themed channels such as the Sindhi language KTN and even a Punjabi channel broadcasting from across the border, it is only logical that PTV has taken this long-delayed step of spotlighting regional languages in the manner that they deserve while at the same time maintaining quality in the sphere of Urdu broadcasting.
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