THIS is in response to the letter by Syed Afaq Hussain (Jan 1).

This is to clarify that the TV license fee is a government tax levied on broadcast receivers under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933 and the same was adopted in 1970 under “TV Receiving Rules”.

Pakistan is not the only country collecting this TV license fee.

It is worth mentioning here that a number of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America have television license fees.

Some of these include Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Brazil to name a few.

In advanced countries, this fee is approximately 300 Euros per annum which is equivalent to Rs36,000 whereas the license fee in Pakistan is merely Rs35 a month, i.e. equivalent to 3.5 Euros per annum only.

The writer should update his knowledge on this issue through the internet to have a comparison.

As far as the viewership of Pakistan Television is concerned, still a majority of viewers across the country and even abroad prefer to tune in to PTV as it is a family channel.

Its programmes are prepared by keeping in view the national ideology and cultural values.

Moreover, PTV has the largest territorial network that covers not only major cities but also most remote areas in Pakistan.

Pakistan Television is the only channel that provides regional language programmes which are popular among the people of all provinces.

ALI AKBAR ABBAS
Controller, Public Relations
Islamabad
Source: Dawn
Date:2/12/2010