KARACHI, July 22: Pakistan Cricket Board’s plans of launching a sports television channel have received a green signal from the federal government, well-informed sources told Dawn on Saturday.

According to details, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting approved PCB’s longstanding proposal after getting the go-ahead from President Pervez Musharraf who is also the board’s patron-in-chief.

The sources further said that the PCB project would be a terrestrial channel which will be launched in collaboration with the Shalimar Television Network (STN). The STN would provide all necessary technical assistance, including the link-up facility, the sources added.

The idea of launching a dedicated sports channel was first floated by PCB Chairman Shaharyar M Khan during an ad hoc committee meeting a few months ago.

Confirming the reports, Abbas Zaidi, the PCB Director Board Operations, described the development as a major boost for sports in the country.

“It’s a major achievement as far as the Pakistan Cricket Board is concerned since we have been striving to launch our own channel which could be dedicated to sports,” Zaidi said from Lahore.

The PCB official added that it will take the board at least a year before the channel is launched.

“There is a lot of spadework to be done once the Memorandum of Understanding is signed. According to our estimation, it would take about 10 to 11 months before the project is ready for launch.” Zaidi emphasised that the channel, besides promoting cricket coverage, will give due importance to all sports and major events such as hockey, football, the national championships, Asian Games and the Olympics.

“It won’t just be a TV channel for cricket. We want to give extensive coverage to other sports as well,” he pledged. “Our main aim is to provide extensive, high class coverage for the lovers of sports.”

Zaidi attributed the realization of tv channel dream to PCB chief’s keen interest in the project and praised him for playing a key role in the whole process since the time the idea was initially floated. “The chairman had expressed the desire of launching such a channel from the outset. He is obviously delighted to know that PCB is finally going to have its own channel.”

The senior PCB official also thanked President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the information minister and information secretary for taking keen interest in the project.