Islamabad : Pakistan’s official TV channel’s ratings have gone down as it cannot telecast Indian shows and news regarding Indian filmstars, admitted a top official.
PTV managing director Yousuf Baig Mirza told a special committee of the Senate Monday that PTV cannot telecast news about any department without confirmation from its spokesperson and “sometimes we do not get permission to telecast a news”, reported the daily Dawn.
He said PTV cannot telecast Indian shows and news regarding Indian stars, due to which ratings of PTV News have gone down.
The committee expressed concerns over the plummeting ratings and viewership of PTV news.
Committee member Wasim Sajjad pointed out that all private channels spoke about the return of President Asif Ali Zardari, but PTV News was 15 minutes behind them.
He said viewers continuously switched to private channels, adding the teledramas of private channels were also more attractive than those on PTV.
Another member, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, said PTV had competent officers in the past, but majority of them now run private channels.
Pakistan entered the TV age with a small pilot TV station established at Lahore from where transmission was first beamed in black and white Nov 26, 1964. Television centres were established in Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad in 1967 and in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974.
Indian film stars are a rage in Pakistan, a country whose film industry has failed to flourish.
IANS
