ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: The spokesman for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has rejected the allegation made by the chief of the channel providers association, Mahmud Rizvi, in a section of the press that PEMRA was “supporting piracy”.

Describing the allegations as canard, the spokesman said: “Nothing could be farther from the truth,” said a press statement issued here on Monday.

The Authority, on the contrary, was enabling the nascent cable industry to organize itself on corporate lines through a number of measures which included reduction in license fee for rural areas, registration of foreign channels bringing the loop-holders (lead walas) within regulatory framework and above all determining the subscriber fee payable to the channel operators by the Cable TV operators.

The spokesman said that the anger of the channel operators against PEMRA perhaps stemmed from the tariff determination recently issued by the Authority, which had been as an “unfriendly” act by them.—APP