THIS is in response to the letter “Licence fee PTV version” (12 Feb) by the Controller Public Relations. His comments are one-sided and need to be clarified. A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for the services.
Television licence is an official licence required for the reception of television broadcasts but in our case the majority of people are not availing the facility to watch PTV.
Therefore, it should not be forced on viewers. People are using cable network and are paying its monthly subscription which, therefore, does not leave any justification on the part of the PTV to charge a monthly fee.
This is like any other household item like refrigerator, washing machine, deep freezer, etc.
The controller has also mentioned a list of countries that are charging the fee but he very cleverly overlooked countries where the TV licence has been abolished like Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Hungry, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and a large number of countries like the USA that never had a television licence. I think it will be fair if the controller goes through the internet and update his knowledge on the subject.
It is worthwhile to mention that I had a PTV National channel in my home and for that I pay a channel fee like other channels. It is regrettable to point out invariably video and audio are out of phase. Most of the time you hear background noises, songs and news which are not related to the programmes being telecast. The technical department should look in to interfering frequencies that have become a nuisance.
The mere fact that fee is being forcibly recovered through power bills is ample proof of PTV’s popularity. The best course of action would be to revise the old policy of issuing PTV licence by PTV to those who want to watch PTV and those using cable channels should be exempted. Holding of a PTV set does not mean that you start charging a fee. Yes, it is true in some of the rural areas that there is no facility of cable network and that PTV can charge a fee there but not everywhere. A large number of private companies are offering facilities through broadband, including TV facility. Can PTV bring them in their network?
I appeal to the minister of information and broadcasting to discontinue charging fee through power bills as it is government-owned channel and earns enough revenue through government and private ads.
SAJJAD AHMED
United States
(II)
THE letter appearing on PTV fee (Feb11) has taken me by surprise. Mr Ali Akbar Abbas, Controller Public Relations, has overlooked a few facts. While arguing for the imposition of TV licence fee by mentioning the names of European, Asian, African and South American countries, he has forgotten to go through their per capita income against which the amount of 300 Euros per annum is per unit. While average per capita income of these countries is around US$28,000 the per capita income of Pakistan is US$1,046 as per the Economic Survey of 2009.
Earning 300 Euros in Europe is as good as earning Rs300 in Pakistan. Converting 300 Euros into Pak Currency is, therefore, irrelevant.
The point is not the increase of TV licence fee to Rs35 from Rs25 per month; it is the way in which it has been increased without making any prior announcement.
I would also request the gentleman to let us know which survey says that PTV is watched by the majority of viewers in Pakistan.
M. VAQARUDDIN
Karachi
Source: Dawn
Date:2/13/2010
