ISLAMABAD: The
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has directed Neo TV to
air entertainment content only and stop airing news and current affairs
programmes as it does not possess a licence for it.
The directive by the
regulatory authority came on Thursday as the Islamabad High Court (IHC)
dismissed the channel’s plea for change of its category from “entertainment” to
“news and current affairs”.
Pemra had issued
show-cause notices to the Neo TV management since its launch in 2015 that it
had obtained a licence to operate an entertainment channel only and airing news
and current affairs was contradictory to the terms and conditions of the
licence.
However, the channel
responded to the show-cause notice by the authority, requesting for the change
of its category from entertainment to news and current affairs. But the request
was turned down by Pemra as the official policy did not permit it. Consequently,
the channel approached the IHC, but the court dismissed the request for change
of category.
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Pemra once again
directed the channel on Thursday to immediately revert to its original
programming — that is entertainment — and report to it within seven days.
Pemra has also
warned the channel that in case of non-compliance and repeated violation,
strict legal action will be initiated against the licensee under the Pemra
Ordinance.
Pemra has also
imposed a fine of Rs1 million on the channel for violation of its laws.
Meanwhile, a senior
official of Pemra said that several other satellite channels have been
operating without proper licences to air news and current affairs content and
expressed the hope that their cases would also be decided by courts soon.
Newspaper: Dawn
