MUMBAI: It wants to signal it means business. And, that it is not going to tolerate any laxity on its diktat to totally ban Indian content on television, radio and cinema in Pakistan. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) yesterday suspended the landing licence of Viacom TV channel Nickelodeon for airing animation shows dubbed in Hindi.
PEMRA made the announcement via a tweet from its twitter handle late last evening.
The channel is distributed in Pakistan via the Ary Digital Network which has its headquarters in Dubai. ARY runs a clutch of channels including ARY News, Zindagi, QTV, Muzik, Digital etc.
ARY is broadcast in several Asian countries through the services of Samacom’s uplinking earth station based in the UAE. The network has Mohammed Iqbal as its chairperson; Salman Iqbal being its president & CEO.
The authority had issued an order last month directing Pakistani channels to reduce Indian content to six per cent, and followed it up with another notice forcing them to reduce it to zero by 21 October. It has stated that those violating its order would face dire consequences, among which could include cancellation or suspension of downlinking (read: landing) and uplinking permissions that it grants.
A clutch of broadcasters under the Pakistan Broadcasters Association has been contemplating taking PEMRA to court for its hard stance on the Indian and foreign content issue.
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