ACT demands monitoring of foreign content on TV channels

ISLAMABAD, Apr 10 (APP):The Actors Collective Trust (ACT) Tuesday urged the authorities concerned to monitor foreign content being aired on domestic television channels and banned it during prime time.
Addressing a press conference here at National Press Club (NPC), ACT Chairman Naeem Tahir said a lot of Indian content was being telecast by domestic TV channels, depriving the local talent of opportunities to perform, besides harming the national language, heritage and culture.
He said the demand for local programmes had gone down as foreign content was available at one-fourth of their price. Moreover, airing of the foreign programmes by the channels without any check and adhering to the permitted limit which had created a severe economic crisis for the local talent.
“As per rules of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), channels are allowed to broadcast up to 10% foreign content, including 6% of Indian content,” he said.
He said many satellite and cable TV channels had been airing foreign content in excess of the stipulated time allocated by PEMRA.
Naeem tahir also called for devising a monitoring system for advertisements being aired by TV channels.
ACT members Leyla Zubairi, Ali Tahir and Rehan Sheikh were also present at the conference.