Pakistan bans more Indian channels

Televisionpoint.com Team
Pakistan has recently banned 35 entertainment channels, a majority of which are Indian, including Sony and Star. Indian news channels had been blanked out ever since Kargil war.

The latest provocation was that local channels were found broadcasting cricket matches through South African channels instead of Ten Sports that has the exclusive rights to broadcast international cricket matches in Pakistan. The ban was prompted by a complaint from the Pakistan Cricket Board to the country's media regulator, Pemra, and comes on the eve of Indo-Pak test series.

According to Pakistani media, the banned channels include AXN, National Geographic, Reality, Set Max, Sony, Sahara One, Balle Balle, ETC, Channel One, Now, MM, MM2, M NET, Series, Action, Super Sports 1, Super Sports 2, Super Sports 3, Super Sports 4, Super Sports 5, Super Sports 6, Fashion TV International, Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Music, Zee Sports, Zee News, Zee Smile, Star Ustav, Star Care, Star Gold, B4U Movies, B4U Music and EEntertainment.

Officials said that Ten Sports decided to pull out of its agreement with the PCB as the bulk of the cable operators in the country continue to show matches from various South African channels instead of Ten Sports. In response cable operators went on a day's strike that ended on December 24 and announced their support to Pemra.

Pakistan is not the only neighbour to ban Indian channels. Bangladesh banned Indian satellite channels in 2002 to resist the adverse impact of an alien society. These included HBO, Star Movies, MTV, Channel V, AXN, MGM and Hallmark, amongst others. But a three day strike by cable operators forced the government to revoke the ban. Nepal and Bhutan too had banned popular Indian channels for similar reasons.