ISLAMABAD, Jun 11 (APP):The growth of the media industry in Pakistan has multiplied rapidly during the last decade, with a cumulative investment of approximately $4-$5 billion. The sector is providing employment to more than 300,000 people. Moreover, new licenses issued by Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) would inject investment of approximately $2-$3 billion, said Economic Survey 2019-2020 released here Thursday.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is responsible
for facilitating and regulating the establishment and operation of all
types of broadcast media and distribution services in Pakistan
established for the purpose of international, provincial, district,
and local area community based or special target audiences. It also
facilitates the devolution of responsibility and power to the
grassroots level by improving the access of the people to mass media
at the local and community level. Finally, it ensures accountability,
transparency, and good governance by optimization of the free flow of
information.
PEMRA has issued 254 licenses for FM Radio so far ,the number was
240 till March 2019. Similarly, PEMRA has issued 4,062 Cable TV
licenses; the number was 4,007 till March 2019.
Besides collecting advance tax from licensees at the time of issuance
of licenses and their renewal, PEMRA has deposited a total of Rs
1,053,226,106 in the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF).
The government of Pakistan had allocated Rs 200.000 million for the
project “Modernization of Camera and Production equipment of Pakistan
Television Corporation.”The government of Pakistan has released Rs
160.000 million from July–December against which PTV is importing
electronic/IT equipment to upgrade its channels, including PTV-Home,
PTV News, and PTV Sports from standard definition technology to high
definition technology. The aforementioned equipment is expected to be
imported by the last quarter of FY2020. PTV is trying its level best
to improve signal quality to terrestrial network in the less developed
areas of Pakistan, for which Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast
(DTMB) project, supported by a Chinese grant, is in the pipeline. The
number of registered TV sets holders as of 31st January 2020 are
20,528,134.
Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) PBC is one of the most
important and effective electronic media, for the projection of
government policies and aspirations of the people of Pakistan both at
home and abroad. It has also been countering adverse foreign
propaganda and negative perceptions. A budget of Rs 4,422.621 million
has been allocated to PBC to meet employees and operational related
expenses for FY2020, and Rs 2,300.159 million was released to PBC till
March 31 for the expenditure of first two-quarters of Financial Year 2019-2020.
