Broadcasters in a meeting in Karachi on Friday announced establishment of the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), a representative body comprising of both television and radio broadcasters. Mir Shakilur Rehman of Geo TV was elected chairman of the association.
Broadcasters said the move was taken due to growing number of FM radio and satellite television broadcasters in private sector during last few years.
In his remarks, Mir Shakilur Rehman said sharp increase in number of broadcasters made it necessary to foster joint efforts so as to collectively frame a code of conduct.
Some of the salient features of the association include making rules for accreditation and conduct of business with advertising agencies and production houses.
The PBA will also provide a clearance house facility for recovery of dues of its members from the government and advertising agencies/advertisers.
It also plans to originate and promote improvements or oppose alterations in Pemra rules and regulations and other laws, which cause hindrances in development and promotion of broadcast media sector.
The founders also vowed to seek concession in duties and taxes from the government for development of electronic media sector and to protect PBA members in every lawful and proper manner from any infringement upon their constitutional and legal rights and liberties.
The PBA will promote understanding and intricacies of intellectual property rights such as illegal channel and advertisements being shown by cable operators and others and to combat piracy in all forms, including infringement of copyrights.
The association also plans to make rules for conduct of business with programme producers, artists and others related to broadcast media and to hold, arrange and organise national and international seminars, shows, training programmes/sessions and workshops for the members.
The founders said they hoped to exchange professional knowledge among members and to keep members abreast of latest technological changes and development in national and international broadcast media industry.
Other plans include publishing a directory of broadcasters and related activities, organising distribution of national awards and providing a platform for interaction with foreign broadcasters.
Those attended the inaugural meeting included Mir Shakilur Rehman of Geo TV, Ghazanfar Ali of Indus TV, A Rauf of ARY, A Jabbar of ATV, Aslam Kazi of KTN, Ahmed Zubairi and Asif Zubairi of Aaj TV, Imran Mehboob of Hum TV, Dr Karim of Sindh TV, Arshad Anis of AVT Khyber, Agha Nasir of FM101, Arshad Khan of PTV, Mohsin Naqvi of CNN, Abid Sheikh of Filmazia, Muhammad Asim of Business Plus, Zaheer Khan of FM91 and TV1, Memoona Siddiqui, Muhammad Zaki, Shahid Javed, Mehdi Raza of FM107, Wasim Ahmed of FM99, Afaq Haider of FM105, Syed Sajjad H Shah of Apna TV, Akbar Bhutto of FM91, FM92 and FM93 and Dr Rifat of FM96.