Evolution and Future of Electronic Media

Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan

By: Adil Mir – Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd

Pakistan has been one of the few countries in the 60s and then 70 to have progressed in providing
TV transmission to the nation. Starting from PTV only and then after deregulation of market in
1988 with NTM and STN private channels gave a new hope of openness to the artists and content
creators alike.
Fast forward to year 2000, after Gen. Pervez Musharraf opened the electronic media market to
private channels and cable TV.
Now in 2019, Pakistani electronic media market is still in it growth stage where it has already
surpassed initial teething problems. The cable industry is overloaded with operators in every
nook and corner, that even PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) may not
know exactly how many of them are operational and where.

Cable Industry
If we go by official numbers, there are over 2,200 active cable operators and over 4,000 loop
operators. The difference between the two is that a cable operator has complete solution from
downlinking the channels to it’s head-end (place where satellite channels are downlinked from
satellite, organized and then transmitted to end consumer via cable network), whereas a loop
operator only has a network laid down till the end consumer and it uses a cable operator’s
transmission for it’s own network.
The evolution of cable industry globally has gone from analog cable to digital and then IPTV where
channels have gone from just simple standard definition channels to up to 4K. However, in
Pakistan, we are still trying to figure out if digitization of cable will bring any benefits to the
operator or end consumer.
In order to give more content to end customer, PEMRA initially allowed in-house channels, which
are also known as CD channels. Ironically, these were named CD channels because cable
operators would run pirated Indian and English movies using pirated CDs and DVDs from the
market. The consumer has become so accustomed to the piracy that if a new movie is now shown
by a cable operator on the in-house channel, consumers would change their operator, without
giving a thought that they are being part of Intellectual property theft.
With the passage of time, more channels were granted licenses to operate but all lead to a
bottleneck, which was the capacity of analog cable TV to show channels. At the most, an analog

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
cable TV can show up to 100 channels with compressed, degraded quality. Moving on to Digital
network was the only option but since the cable operators were on to making money, they
grabbed on to another opportunity called “Carriage Fee”.
The carriage fee is the amount paid by a satellite channel to the cable operator for placement of
their channel on their own selected number. Lower the channel number is in the list, higher the
carriage fee it will have to pay. This resulted in another “illegitimate” business practice by cable
operators, to which PEMRA looked the other way.
For domestic satellite channels it was an investment as they gained their returns through
advertisement but for International channels, this practice started becoming a problem as they
acquired international channels rights for Pakistan by paying a certain amount to the principal as
royalty or subscription fee.
The vision of PEMRA was to convert the analog networks to digital by December 2015 as Govt.
of Pakistan had signed in Berne Convention with other countries to convert analog networks to
digital by end of 2015. PEMRA failed to meet the objective and ever since that, there has not
been any concrete attempt to revive this conversion.
Although digitization is being done at a snail pace by operators nationwide but that is not to
adjust domestic channels but to provide a plethora of Indian and other illegally received channels
in Pakistan. This can only be countered by creating more favorable conditions for International
channels to start their operations in Pakistan.

Direct-to-Home (DTH)
DTH is not new for Pakistan as it became available in the form of “Dish TV” in early 90’s when
Star TV became popular in Asia. With only few international channels, Dish TV became a
household necessity for people of Pakistan.

DTH Case Study - India

In this region, India was the first one to formally launch DTH networks in early 2000’s with Dish
TV (owned by Zee Network) & DD Direct Plus (State owned now DD Free Dish). With the success
of both services, more companies joined in and as of today India has 6 DTH service provider with
a combined subscriber base of 80 million households.
1. Dish TV – Essel Group (Zee Network)
2. TATA Sky – TATA Sons & 21st Century Fox
3. Airtel Digital – Bharti Airtel & Warburg Pictures
4. Sun Direct – Sun Group & Astro Group
5. DD Free TV – Doordarshan
6. Independent TV – Pantel Technologies & Veecon Media

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
DTH was a catalyst to jump start a media revolution in India. It helped the market develop more
content and channels for all types of subscriber with different languages and reach. The ease of
availability and accessibility of DTH for subscribers forced the legacy analog cable operators to
start moving towards digitization of their network in order to remain in control of their
subscribers. However, the Govt. in this case also capitalized on the opportunity to push for
digitization of cable operators. As of 2019, 100% of cable networks are on digital networks and
legacy analog networks are no longer in operations in India.
Another reason for the success of DTH was the initiative Govt had taken to create a fully
autonomous body for Media and Telecom, known as Telecom Regulatory Authority India (TRAI).
It was initially created in 1997 for Telecommunications & Data industry only but later broadcast
media was added to it.
TRAI has laid out guidelines for broadcasters and broadcast distribution networks with strict
compliance therefore no operator in the country can neither work illegally nor can transmit illegal
TV channels.
As for 2019, there are 890+ Indian channels being broadcasted on all distribution networks in
India.
The revenue from all distribution mediums in India is nearly US $1 Billion per annum. This does
not include individual channels advertisement revenue.

Why is DTH important for Pakistan?

In 2016, PEMRA auctioned 3 DTH licenses in Pakistan, marking the first step towards evolution of
media distribution industry. However, with issues raised by various media groups, the auctioned
licenses went into a lengthy court battle where ultimately decision was given in favor of DTH bid
winners, allowing them to proceed with DTH launch and operations in Pakistan.
The two-year delay took its toll on the new companies and with a devaluating Pak Rupee, their
business plans became redundant as cost of operations and expected launch has gone up.
However, even now if the DTH operators are given the license within first quarter of 2019, they
might be able to launch their service by third quarter of 2019.
DTH will provide accessibility to all channels in the areas of Pakistan where conventional cable is
not present, and people rely on illegal DTH like Dish or TATA Sky to access entertainment and
news channels. The reality of the situation is that right now there are over 3 million illegal DTH
boxes are in operation in Pakistan costing the Govt. of Pakistan an estimated over PKR 30 Billion
per annum.
It must be mentioned here that only with DTH launch the worries of illegal DTH operations will
not be over. We need to have substantial increase in the international channel landing in
Pakistan. Right now, there are only 33 landing rights channels in Pakistan which is far less than
the number of channels in India. The process of obtaining landing rights licenses is officially 100

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
days as per PEMRA rules, after submission of all required documentation. However, it does take
up to 2 years for some channels to obtain landing rights.
Lastly, the Govt. must watch out for content which is deemed inappropriate or goes against the
content policies of PEMRA. With DTH widely available, there will only be 3 operators which would
be required to control the channels being broadcasted instead of right now where thousands of
cable and loop operators are next to impossible to control.

How to make DTH successful?

As mentioned above, the success of DTH is largely dependent upon the availability of more
international channels which people like and for this same reason illegal DTH is immensely
popular.
PEMRA did work towards creating a more lucrative environment for international channels by
reducing the landing rights fee but the lengthy process of obtaining the licenses is still seen as
one of the roadblocks for international channels.
Secondly, Govt. needs to crack down on the sales of illegal DTH operations. In August 2018, after
Supreme Court order, a wide scale crack down was initiated on illegal sales and operation of DTH
in Pakistan but within months, the sales have resumed in almost all the cities of Pakistan. Cable
operators are also to be blamed for spreading illegal DTH as they broadcast illegal international
channels on their digital and analog networks. This is only to create more stickiness for their
customers. Transmission of pirated content on inhouse channels is yet another culprit for the
wide spread of illegal DTH and pirated content.
The measures Govt. must take can be summarized in following points:
1. Crackdown on illegal/unlicensed channels on cable operator’s digital networks
2. Ban on pirated content on inhouse channels
3. Deadline for converting analog networks to digital nationwide, with strict compliance

OTT & Internet TV

Over the Top (OTT) and Internet TV are the mediums which uses Internet as carrier for broadcast
of content / TV channels without any restriction of any fixed network.
Example of OTT is Netflix, YouTube Red, Amazon Video. These companies already are providing
services in Pakistan which anyone can access having credit or debit card. As per a recent survey,
Netflix is churning around US $650,000 per month from their subscription of services in Pakistan.
It is next to impossible to stop OTT services as right now anywhere in the world. Pakistan has
over 50 million internet subscribers and it is easily accessible with 4G being on the forefront of
data communication.

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
In order to create advantage of these segment, Govt. needs to create regulations and ask the
service providers to have registered offices in Pakistan so that their services could be taxed and
more widely available.

Regulation on TV Channels
PEMRA already have a code of conduct available for all the broadcast channels but seldomly it is
used. News and Current Affairs channels are the most view channels in Pakistan and they come
under fire when inappropriate content is aired. Resulting in fines, show cause notices and at the
end, suspension of TV channel transmission. PEMRA needs to do the following in order to have
channels abide by code of conduct.
a. Revise code of conduct according to norms of our society
b. Have channels provide advance program guides to PEMRA with outlined content details
c. Hefty fines on channels who do not follow the code of conduct
d. Hefty fines on anchors personally, who do not follow the code of conduct
e. Suspension of channel transmission if it becomes a repeat offender
In the current situation, there is also an issue of PEMRA policy of not allowing foreign content
more than 10% of air time on any domestic satellite channel. This needs to change as people
want to see more foreign content than News channels. PEMRA must establish a content
evaluation segment which would evaluate the content before it is being aired on any channel.
After necessary adjustments in content according to policy, it can be cleared to be on air.
More domestic channels with 100% foreign content (English) should be allowed so that the
dependency on Indian content start reducing.
Dubbing of English language should also be allowed so that those who wish to see a locally
dubbed movie should be able to enjoy it.

International channels
First and foremost, PEMRA has a rule not to allow international channels to uplink from Pakistan.
India has over 70 teleport stations and it is mandatory for international channels to uplink from
India when it comes to licensing international channels. Pakistan has only 1 main teleport station
under PakSat and all international channels must uplink from outside the country to be
categorized as landing rights channels.
We are on a losing side with this policy where there can be a major opportunity to expand the
media market in Pakistan. Once International channels can uplink from Pakistan, all these
channels will not only establish their uplink based for Pakistan but will also use it to uplink for
other countries globally. It all comes down to how friendly we wish to make this country for
foreign investment.

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
PEMRA should also make it mandatory for any international channel to establish a local liaison
office in Pakistan so that if there is any issue regarding the content, right people could be
contacted. Currently, the authorized distributors of the channels are the only source to contacted
for anything regarding content and cannot be held accountable.
With given past, present and future of media industry, the Govt. must take concrete steps for
creating more balanced and foreign investment friendly environment for domestic and
international media in Pakistan. This will ensure success of DTH, and will be in line with creating
more job opportunities for technical and commercial people alike.

Evolution and Future of Electronic Media Distribution & Electronic Media in Pakistan
Written by: Adil Mir – CEO - Indigo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd