ISLAMABAD: The regional offices of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) conducted an enforcement drive during Eidul Fitr holidays over violations by cable operators for airing illegal Indian channels and content.
The raids were conducted in Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Karachi and Hyderabad.
Pemra has pointed out that in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Thatta and Sujawal, the enforcement teams seized all equipment being used in the said illegal activity which includes 14 satellite receivers, 11 modulators, five transmitters and two digital boxes.
Show cause notices have been duly issued to violators and fines were imposed on violations conducted earlier. In Multan, enforcement team conducted surprise inspections in various localities of Bahawalnagar, D.G. Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan and raided 34 cable offices. As many as 20 were found to be airing illegal Indian channels.
Field staff in Pemra’s regional office (Lahore) has initiated a drive against illegal content and conducted 89 surprise inspections in all seven districts. Total number of violations found was three in Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib and Kasur.
All three operators have been strictly warned and issued show cause notices and called for personal hearing. During the mentioned raids, the enforcement teams confiscated illegal equipment. Moreover, officials from regional office (Sargodha) conducted surprise inspections of 15 cable operators in Khushab and Sargodha and seized equipment being used for airing illegal Indian channels and excessive in-house channels.
Moreover, staff of Pemra’s regional office (Gujranwala) conducted 14 surprise inspections in different areas in Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Sambrial, Lalamusa, Kharian, Ladhewala Warriach, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Narowal and Hafizabad, and confiscated their receivers deployed for illegal transmissions.
During a surprise drive in Faisalabad, Jaranwala, Chak Jhumra, Tandlian Wala and Sammundri, receivers for illegal transmissions were confiscated from two loop holders of M/s Media Com CATV(Pvt.) Ltd, M/s Jutt Cable Network and M/s Mudasar.
Pemra has warned all cable television operators of the country to immediately stop airing illegal content.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023
