Pemra meeting: Licences of 425 cable operators cancelled

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Friday cancelled the licences of 425 cable operators and a television channel. An official statement released by the authority following its 101st meeting said the licences of the cable operators in question were cancelled because most of them were inoperative and dormant. Others were defaulters, the Pemra statement added. The licence of the TV channel in question was cancelled after it was found to be ‘void ab initio’ under rule 13 of Pemra Rules 2009. According to the rule, a person engaged in distribution – as in the case of cable operators – cannot hold a broadcast licence. According to the Pemra statement, there were a total of 3,600 cable operators in Pakistan. After the cancellation of licences, the number now stands at 3,175.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2015.