PEMRA teams take action against cable operators involved in airing illegal channels in Gujranwala Division

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Regional Office Gujranwala teams raided offices of cable networks operating in different cities of Gujranwala division and took action against cable operators showing illegal channels.  Led by Muhammad Tanveer, Deputy General Manager, the team sealed five illegal cable headends  in Mandi Bahauddin and Kamunki and confiscated equipment used to transmit illegal channels.  Similarly, the team led by Maida Noor Cheema, Deputy General Manager, while conducting operations in Hafizabad and Narowal, sealed four illegal cable heads and confiscated the equipment used for transmission of illegal channels.   The team led by Senior Field Inspector Barkat Hussain seized several illegal Indian dish TV receivers and dish antennas in Pindi Bhattian and Jalalpur Bhattian.  All these operations were supervised by Director General (Operations) Muhammad Farooq himself.   PEMRA has in the past also taken action against the sale and purchase of illegal DTH, but the infiltration of illegal DTH is still going on, causing millions of dollars of foreign exchange to flow out of the country annually.  The transmission of Indian channels on PEMRA’s licensed cable networks has been largely curtailed. However, PEMRA takes immediate action on complaints received from Pakistan Citizen Portal or other sources against any violation.  In this regard, Chairman PEMRA, Muhammad Saleem Baig has clearly directed all the officers to ensure the implementation of PEMRA rules and take effective measures to prevent the transmission of immoral material on cable.

Source: The Nation