Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani has said that an unprecedented 684 percent increase in allocations for media development projects in the current budget will unleash what may be termed as the second 'media revolution' in Pakistan.
He was addressing a licence awarding ceremony held at Pemra headquarters for issuing licences to five new TV channels, and landing rights to six others. Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood and Pemra Chairman Iftikhar Rashid were also present on the occasion.
"Some 52 media projects will be launched in 2007-08, which will initiate the second phase of your government's commitment to bring specialisation to field media in Pakistan, the first phase being the launch of private TV and FM Radio channels," Durrani said.
He said that by the end of this year, the government would set up the first ever 'Media University' of Pakistan, which would be entirely dedicated to teaching and research in media and media-related fields. This 'university' would be completed at a cost of Rs 500 million and furnish ever-increasing human resource requirements of the rapidly growing media organisations, he added.
Emphasising on government's vision to revolutionise the information industry, the Minister announced that three new projects of 'Direct-To-Home' facility (DTH) would be completed in 2007 at a cost of Rs 3500 million. "DTH will totally change our 'TV experience'," he claimed. "It will put the broadcaster directly in touch with the consumer, without any interruption," he added.
He said that it would offer better quality services and stereophonic sound effects, which cannot be provided by cable operators. It would also reach the remote areas where terrestrial transmission and cable TV has not reached so far. Durrani said that DTH would also allow value-added service like movie-on-demand, Internet access, video conferencing, e-mail, etc.
The minister said that the government, under the able leadership of President Pervez Musharraf, had also launched Electronic News Gathering (ENG) service by APP at a cost of Rs 246 million. The project, he said, would provide news which would cater to the needs of national and international TV channels, and would augment their reporting of events.
The FM radios would reach the district level, as by the end of this year 140 FM Radio channels would be fully operational, claimed Durrani. Similarly, the network of cable operators would be further expanded up to 2000 operators throughout the country.
He said that 30 licences would be given to multi channel multi-distribution (MMD) providers, who would provide wireless services to viewers who cannot avail cable facility. He said, "We have earmarked a hefty Rs 500 million for completely revamping PTV Corporation, and another Rs 739 million for setting up a new 'Youth & Sports Channel'. Both projects would be designed to make the output of these channels at par with international standards.
Another ambitious plan of the present government is to initiate Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), the Minister said. By the end of this year, three companies would start providing services of Internet, TV channels and Communication facility through a single connection, he added.
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