SC reinstates ban on airing of Indian content on TV channels

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside an earlier verdict by the Lahore High Court (LHC) and reinstated a 2016 policy of the federal government banning the transmission of Indian content on local television channels.

A counsel of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) appeared in court as a three-judge bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmad heard a case regarding transmission of foreign content on local television channels.

The PEMRA counsel stated, "Then federal government had drafted a policy in 2006 as per which only 10% of the content aired on local television channels could be foreign."

"On October 19, 2016, PEMRA imposed a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television channels," the counsel for the regulatory authority added.

In 2017, the LHC had lifted the ban as the federal government had no objections regarding the same, he further said.

PEMRA had challenged the LHC decision in the top court, the counsel stated.

Justice Gulzar questioned if viewers still want to watch Indian films. At this, the PEMRA counsel said, "Indian content has zero viewership on local television channels. Following LHC orders, PEMRA's authority has been curtailed."

After hearing the PEMRA counsel's arguments, the SC set aside the LHC order and reinstated the federal government's October 2016 policy as per which Indian content cannot be aired on local television channels

The hearing of the case was then adjourned for an indefinite period.

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