• May 12, 2004
• Freedom of Expression
• Web Desk

ISLAMABAD – Despite the proclaimed liberalization of the information and media sectors of the economy, the government was still reluctant to issue licenses to the private TV channels as the PEMRA goes slow on drafting amendment in its ordinance.

The process of amendment in the PEMRA Ordinance would take sometime, nevertheless the cabinet had already approved it, said the spokesman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) when contacted by The Nation.

Under the existing PEMRA Ordinance, the cross-media ownership was not allowed, however, the federal cabinet had already permitted the amendment in the Ordinance in order to allow issuance of TV licenses to print media owners.

PEMRA spokesman Muhammad Saleem told The Nation that initially there were 20 applications seeking licenses for local based TV channels out of which the Authority has short­listed 12. Out of these 12 parties for TV channels there are eight applicants that come under the cross-media ownership clause, which is yet to be inserted in the ordinance through an amendment, he added.

Earlier, well-placed sources said the government was deliberately delaying the opening of private TV channels, keeping in view the lack of institutional capacity at its regulatory and monitoring mechanisms.

With the appointment of Noor Saghir as Member PEMRA from his earlier position of Director General of the Authority, the electronic media watchdog is complete now. However, putting in place effective rules and regulations after the cabinet approved amendment in PEMRA Ordinance is yet a far cry, the sources added.

According to the sources, the regulatory mechanisms put in place in the post-deregulation scenario in all the sectors being liberalized are facing various constraints in establishing effective regulatory control over their respective sectors.

The sources cited the example of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority where the government has kept dormant a part of the OGRA Ordinance governing the sub-sector of oil.

Therefore, despite the so-called liberalization of the oil and gas sector the OGRA had no say over both the oil marketing and tariff adjustments.

Therefore, the sources were of the view that the government intends to keep the matter of opening private TV channels at a snails pace in a bid to strengthen the post-deregulation regulatory and censor setups.

Source: The Nation
Date:5/16/2004