Individual Research Paper:

Is PEMRA fulfilling the objectives it was

created for?
Table of Contents:

1.Executive Summary

2.Background

3.Objectives and Functions of PEMRA

4.Performance Evaluation of PEMRA

a. Licensing

b. Distribution Services

c.Content Monitoring and enforcing Code of Conduct

d.Complaint Handling

5.Evaluation of future Plans

6.Conclusion and Recommendations

7.Bibliography
1.Executive Summary :

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was formed through the PEMRA
Ordinance 2002 with an objective of development of electronic media in Pakistan and to
improve the standards of information, education and entertainment. It was also to help
enlarge the choice available to the people of Pakistan in the media thereby facilitating the
devolution of responsibility and power to the grass-roots and ensuring accountability,
transparency and good governance by optimizing the free flow of information. The Ordinance
also provides for the functions of PEMRA in article 4 which include

a) facilitating and regulating the establishment and operation of all broadcast media
and distribution services in Pakistan established for the purpose of international,
national, provincial, district, and local or special target audiences.

b) regulate the distribution of foreign and local TV and radio channels in Pakistan

Thus PEMRA performs the functions of Licensing, Distribution Services, Content

Monitoring & enforcing Code of Conduct and Complaint Handling. PEMRA had issued 77
Satellite TV,28 Landing Rights,129 FM radio and 2346 Cable TV licences up to 2009.There
were too many licences of Satellite TV Channels given by PEMRA in short time and now no
more licences can be issued due to limited availability in distribution services. Further
PEMRA has not been able to check the growth of illegal Cable operators. PEMRA has set up
a centralised monitoring cell at its headquarters for content monitoring and enforcing code of
conduct. Yet PEMRA has not been effective in enforcing its code of conduct even though it
has been imposing fines and penalties. Council of Complaints, also formed under the
PEMRA Ordinance 2002, have been set up in Islamabad and the provincial capitals but the
numbers of complaints received ( 1112 in 2009 ) are very small as compared to the viewers
and listeners of the electronic media. PEMRA is working on the future plans of introducing
Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting and Direct to Home ( DTH ) service in order to provide
viewers with more channels and better quality transmission. PEMRA also has plans of
expanding the MMDS network which is currently available in big cities only. In this study
one finds that PEMRA has made significant progress towards fulfilling the objectives of its
creation though the progress is not wholesome. PEMRA must strengthen its content
monitoring and enforcement of code of conduct by involving common public in to the
process.
Background:

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ( PEMRA ) is the organisation formed
for regulating electronic media in Pakistan. “Electronic Media” are those communication
mediums which are based on electronic or electromechanical means of production and most
often distinguished from print media. The primary electronic media sources familiar to the
general public worldwide include radio, sound recordings, television, video recording and
streaming internet content” . It denotes, “the main means of communicating with large
number of people, especially television, radio, internet and satellite”. The electronic media
have four basic functions; to inform, entertain, educate and influence the public opinion. In
the last 50 years the media influence has grown significantly with the advance of technology,
first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the
internet. The electronic media has touched every sphere of the human aspect. In the present
times, information and technology are interwoven with the society’s economic progress. The
evolution of electronic media has had an overwhelming impact on the society. The
Opportunities of communication have broken all barriers across national boundaries and have
led to the germination of new ideas through the cross pollination of cultures.

Since its inception in Pakistan, electronic media in the country remained in government
control till 1990, when Shalimar Television Network (STN) and Network Television
Marketing (NTM) signed a contract to launch Pakistan’s first private sector TV channel.
During mid 90s, a growing demand for television entertainment in Pakistan paved way to
foreign TV channels through satellite dishes. (PEMRA Annual Report 2006-2009 pg 13 ) It
was in the start of the 21st Century the government realised the need to develop a formal
structure for development of electronic media in Pakistan and thus an independent statutory
body namely “Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority” (PEMRA)
was set up in March, 2002 through an Ordinance No. xiii of 2002.
With the sudden and rapid growth of electronic media in Pakistan, PEMRA inherited many
challenges.One such challenge was to create realization among the media players that media
freedom is coupled with a direct and equal proportion of responsibility.As freedom of
speech and expression is guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution of Pakistan as a
fundamental right, it is the responsibility of the media to exercise this freedom with due care
to ensure that it may not incite violence, terrorism, racial,ethnic or religious discrimination,
sectarianism, extremism, militancy, hatred, pornography, obscenity, vulgarity or
anything offensive to the commonly accepted standards of decency.PEMRA as the regulatory
authority also has the responsibility to ensure that such freedom of speech and expression is
not abused.
3.Objectives and Functions of PEMRA

The objectives for the formation of PEMRA have been expressly provided for in the
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002.The ordinance calls for
regulation of the electronic media in Pakistan for the development of the media in order to

(i) improve the standards of information, education and entertainment;

(ii) enlarge the choice available to the people of Pakistan in the media for news,
current affairs, religious knowledge, art, culture, science, technology,
economic development, social sector concerns, music, sports, drama and other
subjects of public and national interest;

(iii) facilitate the devolution of responsibility and power to the grass-roots by

improving the access of the people to mass media at the local and community
level; and

(iv) to ensure accountability, transparency and good governance by optimizing the

free flow of information;

These objectives focus on ensuring that media performs its role as it should. In ensuring the
standards of information PEMRA is expected to ensure the provision of reliable verifiable;
adequate and complete information by the electronic media, objectivity is expected in
arranging information for the population. The electronic media is also a powerful and
economical tool for education and has a great potential if used imaginatively and with vision.
PEMRA’s objectives also require that media be used to raise awareness and educate the
masses to overcome various social problems and development of civic sense. PEMRA is also
required to ensure that entertainment provided by the media does not violate the social
acceptability and is in synchronisation with the culture and taste of the nation in general.

In light of its objectives, PEMRA describes its vision statement as “To employ electronic
media as a dynamic platform guided by the past, responsive to the present and geared towards
the bright future. To uphold the principles of national unity, cultural diversity, equality,
freedom of expression, access to information and a level playing field for all media players.
This solemn vision will have to be actualized by bridging the digital divide for integration of
haves and have nots nationally and globally to reach Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)
by the year 2015.”(annual report 2006-2009).

The functions of the authority derive directly from the objectives of the organisation.The
Ordinance also provides for the functions of PEMRA in article 4 which include

c) facilitating and regulating the establishment and operation of all broadcast media
and distribution services in Pakistan established for the purpose of international,
national, provincial, district, and local or special target audiences.

d) regulate the distribution of foreign and local TV and radio channels in Pakistan

In brief the functions can be reduced to following main categories: Licensing, Distribution
Services, Content Monitoring & enforcing Code of Conduct and Complaint Handling.
4.Performance Evaluation of PEMRA

In order to make a judgement about PEMRA fulfilling its one has to evaluate the
performance separately in terms of each of the functions performed by it.Major functions of
PEMRA can be categorised as Licensing, Distribution Services, Content Monitoring and
Complaint Handling.

a.Licensing :

One of the chief functions of the authority is the granting of licenses under six categories as
procided for in section 18 of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002.These categories include

i. International and National scale stations;

ii. Provincial scale broadcast;
iii. Local Area or Community based Radio and TV Broadcast;
iv. Specific and specialized subjects;
v. Distribution services; and
vi. Uplinking facilities including teleporting and DSNG.
According to the annual report issued in 2009 PEMRA had issued the following numbers of
licences in the various categories.

Satellite TV 77
Landing Rights 28
FM Radio 129
Cable TV 2346
MMDS 6
Internet Protocol TV 2
Mobile TV 2

FM Radio licences include 18 non-commercial licenses given to leading Universities offering

courses in the field of Mass Communication. The underlying idea is to promote the
development of skilled manpower for the electronic media industry. The Universities having
been granted FM licences include University of the Punjab, University of Peshawar,
National University of Modern Languages, Lahore College for Women University, Karachi
University,Gomal University, Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, Allama Iqbal Open
University, Islamic University and Bahaud-din-Zakariya University.There has been an issue
of illegal FM radio stations operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which is mainly being dealt
with by law enforcing agencies.

While evaluating the performance of PEMRA in case of Licensing functions one finds there
has been good progress in terms of numbers of licences issued.Hence one finds that the
authority has come to a saturation point in terms of satellite TV licences.Thus one finds the
following statement on the official website of PEMRA “The Authority has stopped the
issuance of any more satellite TV licences due to saturated market position and limited
channel carrying capacity of distribution networks”
(http://www.pemra.gov.pk/pemra/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=11 dated 18th March,2011). The
substantial rise in number of awarded licences for satellite television channels may be mainly
ascribed to two factors; firstly relaxation in cross media ownership restrictions by the
legislature and secondly the significant expansion in the national advertising budget owing to
the advent of many FMCGs on the national horizon (Annual Report 2006-2009 pg. 23 ).
The process of licensing has been made very open according to the Managing Director of
licensing wing of PEMRA and there is no evidence to the contrary. The licensing fee
structure is clearly laid down and licenses for FM radio stations are given after open
bidding .So when one considers the objectives of facilitating establishment and operation of
all broadcast media, PEMRA has been efficient in granting licences.

b.Distribution Services

Like broadcasting sector, the distribution sector has also been witnessing a sustained growth
rate in the last few years. Particularly, the growth of Cable TV Sector in the country can be
described as phenomenal. It is estimated that over 8 million households are receiving CTV
services from 2346 registered cable TV systems all over the country.Notably, the two most
important factors influencing the growth of the CTV sector are the insatiable demand of the
general public for a greater diversity in TV viewing and above all the willingness of the
regulator to keep on facilitating new entrants in this sector. However, there still exists a
sizeable number of unregistered cable operators despite the efforts of PEMRA authorities to
effectively check such illegal cable operators. PEMRA has also awarded two IPTV licences,
one each to PTCL & Sachal Satellite Communication (Pvt) Ltd. in November 2006 and two
more applications for IPTV are underprocess. PEMRA has also granted Mobile TV (Content
Provision Service) licences one each to M/S CelleVision and M/S Brand Promotion Services
for provisioning of services to Mobilink and Telenor respectively. These licences are non-
exclusive and the licencees may enter into agreement with other organisations as well.
In evaluating the performance of PEMRA in the distribution services one can see much
progress in general. The challenge faced by PEMRA as mentioned in the annual report 2006-
09 of PEMRA (Pg. 16) was “The mushroom growth of cable networks in every nook and
corner of the country expedited the information revolution in the country. There some
misguided elements in its ranks motivated by sheer opportunism and consumerism severely
jolted the foundations of the social, cultural, and religious fabric of the society, many of them
were operating illegally without obtaining a licence. It was a challenge for the Authority not
only to bring all those into the regulatory ambit but also to imbibe into them the concept of a
quality customer service as per standards defined by the Authority. The greatest failure of
PEMRA has been in eliminating illegal cable operators from the country which still are in
good numbers.As a result a subscribtion market has failed to generate in the country and the
local satellite stations remain free to air.

c.Content Monitoring and enforcing Code of Conduct :

Yet another function of PEMRA is that of monitoring the content of the electronic media in
order to make them comply with the code of conduct. Every licence issued by PEMRA has
some attached terms and conditions. These terms and conditions, provided for in the article
20 of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002, state: “A person who is issued a licence under this
Ordinance shall-
 (a) ensure preservation of the sovereignty, security and integrity of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan;
(b) ensure preservation of the national, cultural, social and religious values and the
principles of public policy as enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan;
(c) ensure that all programmes and advertisements do not contain or encourage
violence, terrorism, racial, ethnic or religious discrimination, sectarianism,
extremism, militancy, hatred, pornography, obscenity, vulgarity or other material
offensive to commonly accepted standards of decency;
(d) comply with rules made under this Ordinance;

(e) broadcast, if permissible under the terms of its licence, programmes in the public
interest specified by the Federal Government or the Authority in the manner
indicated by the Government or, as the case may be, the Authority, provided that
the duration of such mandatory programmes do not exceed ten per cent of the total
duration of broadcast or operation by a station in twenty-four hours except if, by
its own volition, a station chooses to broadcast such content for a longer duration;
(f) comply with the codes of programmes and advertisements approved by the
Authority and appoint an in-house monitoring committee, under intimation to the
Authority, to ensure compliance of the Code;
(g) not broadcast or distribute any programme or advertisement in violation of
copyright or other property right; …….”

These given conditions form the parameters of content monitoring for PEMRA and
PEMRA’s performance can be judged accordingly. PEMRA has set up a good state of the art
monitoring centre at its headquarters in G-9, Islamabad where the content of TV Channels is
being monitored round the clock. PEMRA takes notice of any violation that it has monitored
and follows the practice of taking punitive measures like reprimanding and imposing fines.
However with all this effort PEMRA has not been able to strictly enforce the code of conduct
which every licensee is supposed to comply with. Hence PEMRA draws a wide criticism
from different sections of the society on its disability. National Assembly Standing
Committee on Information and Broadcasting in its meeting on 11th of January,2011 criticised
media for airing Indian content and anti-state content programmes and questioned the
performance of PEMRA. It even decided to convene its special meeting at the PEMRA
headquarters.(Business Recorder on 12/01/2011).The instances of un-edited splash
of horrible scenes of a terror attack across the TV screens are still a common practice
amongst satellite channels. Further the content monitoring on the FM radio stations is not
being done by PEMRA and it is relying only on complaints for enforcing the code of
conduct.
d.Complaint Handling

The PEMRA Ordinance 2002 in section 26 called for the setting up of complaint councils.It
also provides for the mandate and the composition of these complaint councils as under:

 Each Council shall receive and review complaints made by persons or organizations
from the general public against any aspects of programmes broadcast or distributed by
a station established through a licence issued by the Authority and render opinions on
such complaints.
 Each Council shall consist of a Chairperson and five members being citizens of
eminence from the general public at least two of whom shall be women.
 The Councils shall have the powers to summon a licensee against whom a complaint
has been made and call for his explanation regarding any matter relating to its
operation.
 The Councils may recommend to the Authority appropriate action of censure, fine
against a broadcast or CTV station or licensee for violation of the codes of
programme content and advertisements as approved by the Authority as may be
prescribed.
The Federal Government has already established the Councils of Complaints (under section
26 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002) at Islamabad and at all the provincial capitals i.e. Karachi,
Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. The members of the council are nominated by Federal
Government which consists of representative from the general public based on their eminence
in the field of journalism, mass-communication, media, law, civil rights, etc. The Councils
enjoy full autonomy and a great deal of freedom in discharge of functions.
Further all the regional and sub-regional offices of PEMRA have complaint cells which work
round the clock, seven days a week to receive and resolve complaints of the general public.
Public complaints may be lodged through PEMRA’s Universal Access Number 111-736-111
while its website www.pemra.gov.pk also offers the public to register their complaints
electronically. The numbers of complaints registered and acted upon were 990, 1042 and
1112 in years 2007, 2008 and 2009 (Annual Report 2006-09).These complaints are too few
considering the amount of viewership around the country. These include complaints against
contents of satellite TV, FM radio and the cable operators. According to a PEMRA estimate a
total of around 40 million people watch cable TV daily and a 23% of urban population. With
such huge numbers of viewers and audience the number of complaints being less than 2000
per annum means the system of complaints is not working properly. The mode of
complaining is not known to common public and the general level of awareness in this
regards is non-existent. So the complaint handling is an area where PEMRA has failed in
fulfilling the objectives of its creation.
5.Evaluation of future Plans :

PEMRA has many future plans which primarily relate to introducing new technologies for
improvement of electronic media service and also because International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) has set the year 2015, as a deadline for complete transition of analog broadcast
networks to digital. PEMRA intends to introduce digital terrestrial broadcasting at
national,provincial and district level of Pakistan subject to the availability. The initiative is
aimed at gathering the advantages of digital broadcasting and at the same time keeping up
with the millennium development goals of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Presently, Analog Terrestrial Broadcasting (video) is dominated by Pakistan Television
Corporation (public entity) in Pakistan while private sector is relying on satellite delivery
platform for broadcasting the content. Introduction of digital terrestrial broadcasting by
PEMRA will certainly provide an opportunity to other players thereby increasing competition
and consequently will present more variety and better quality content to the viewers.

Another consideration,MMDS is a digital technique for wireless distribution of TV channels

to the customers. So far MMDS Networks are operational at Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad,
Sahiwal & Okara under PEMRA licences issued to M/s Southern Networks Limited, and M/s
Ranjha Enterprises
(Pvt) Ltd. Frequency Allocation Board has conveyed the availability of MMDS frequencies
for 33 more cities. PEMRA is working on extending the networks to these cities.

PEMRA is also planning to introduce DTH. DTH is a distribution platform for multi-channel
TV programmes using a geo-stationary satellite system that transmits the programmes/ TV
signals directly to subscribers’ premises. The reception of these signals/programmes requires
a small dish
antenna and a Set Top Box containing software, which together with the viewing card
unscrambles the digital TV signals and allows the viewer to watch the TV channel
transmission. The viewing card acts as a key to access any DTH platform for authorizing the
service. DTH is considered a substitute to cable distribution services which are generally an
unorganized set-up, widespread geographically and offering limited channel options to the
subscribers. On the contrary, DTH would provide a digital distribution services to the TV
viewers. Advantages of DTH include superior audio/video quality, pay-per-view channels,
Internet access, video on demand, parental control and enhanced channel carrying
capacity.The progress on these plans of digitisation by 2015 looks to be a little slow and
certainly not possible within the planned time. There seem to be no major planning on
improving enforcement of the code of conduct. The only emphasis lies on self-regulation in
this regard and on gradual maturation of an infant media.

6.Conclusion and Recommendations :

In this study one finds that PEMRA has made significant progress towards fulfilling the
objectives of its creation though the progress is not wholesome. It has contributed towards the
development of electronic media in the country. The standards of information, education and
entertainment have improved and the choice available to people has multiplied in the realm of
electronic media. The plans for the digitising of the distribution services are in the pipeline
which will ensure even more media outreach with finer quality transmission. The area where
PEMRA has been lacking is that of content monitoring, enforcing of the code of conduct and
complaints handling.

In light of the conclusion drawn from the study one finds that there is a need for improving
upon content monitoring and enforcement of the code of conduct. There is a need to involve
common public in the process of content monitoring. The process of lodging a complaint
should be made known to them. PEMRA should also give some sort of recognition to the
radio and TV channels and the cable operators who perform in accordance with code of
conduct and have no complaints against them. PEMRA also needs to encourage TV Channels
which specialise in local content, economics and business and other technical areas.

7.Bibliography :