ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Wednesday blocked the transmission of several private television channels having no licenses, including Q-TV, Peace TV and Haq TV, besides some foreign entertainment channels, Al-Jazeera, BBC-Entertainment, BBC-Cooking, Zee and Sony.

The channels, which are closed, have not obtained license from the Pemra that is why their transmission have been blocked, said Mushtaq Ahmed Malik, Chairman Pemra when contacted by Business Recorder on Wednesday evening. Chairman Pemra revealed that the Authority has blocked the transmission of some local and foreign television channels as they were operating without any legal document.

He said that presently there are about 61 licensed television channels operating in the country while 29 other channels have got lending rights from the Pemra. The cable operators have the capacity to run 90 channels, while the number of local registered channels is about 90, Pemra chief said, adding that the Authority was compelled to block the unlicensed TV channels.

He said that Pakistan Broadcasting Association (PBA) has raised the issue of inadequate space time and again and it would be great injustice to the channels paying huge fees to Pemra, if they could not get space. People in various areas of the twin cities came to streets to protest against the closure of transmission of television channels especially some Islamic channels including Q-Tv, Peace TV and Haq TV.

Minhajul Quran Youth League and students of some religious parties held protest demonstrations in Islamabad regretting the ban on Q-Tv and some other television channels. The demonstrators said that the channels telecasting immoral programmes are given free hand while those channels providing information about Islamic teachings were blocked. They said that the closure of Islamic channels will not only harm country’s image domestically, but also internationally especially in Islamic world.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:4/8/2010