A few days back, the leading news anchor of a popular television channel divulged a very bizarre and shocking story in his broadcast. The news was about a topic that has been the talk of the town from quite some time now, not only in the media but also among people belonging to all walks of life. You may have guessed it by now: it is the legal installation of Direct to Home (DTH) services in Pakistan. It has been over a decade since many companies and investors have been trying to establish this pioneering technology in Pakistan. On various occasions, the process was discontinued for different reasons. Sometimes it was due to regime change and sometimes due to the confederacy manipulated by cable operators. However, the latest obstruction has apparently been caused by the state itself.
The television anchor said, “My counterpart in New Dehli has informed us that the Chief Minister (CM) of the largest province in Pakistan has made a deal with one of India’s leading media groups for the installation of DTH. My peer from across the border has revealed that this arrangement will be kept under the wraps. The front man will be from Pakistan but in actuality the rights for installation and establishment will be handled by the TATA group. This settlement is similar to that of Pakistan Steel Mills reaching some settlement with the Mital Group.”
After watching the show, I did a little digging on my own. What I found was very puzzling and disturbing. Let me summarise the entire story in a few words. The initialisation and installation of DTH has been in the process from 2003. The process was halted on various occasions — the government toppling or some vested interests of the authorities disallowing the process from progressing. The latest development in this story was the final announcement by the government in the shape of an expression of interest (EOI) issued by it. All the investors who had been fighting to legally establish DTH in Pakistan finally took a sigh of relief. But this time again they have fallen prey to the government’s ‘classified’ schemes. The EOI gave a timeline for each step. However, as the final step of “short listing the applicants” approached, the Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA’s) chairperson was suddenly changed without any prior notice.
According to sources, these ‘last minute’ changes for DTH installation have been happening for over a decade. Now, once again, all the foreign and local investors are infuriated and disappointed, which is totally justified. Each investor is willing to invest up to $ 50 million on average. And this not a small amount. If these haphazard and unorganised occurrence continues then very soon distrust will be created between the authorities and investors. Consequently, all the investors will back out. And this will have adverse effects on our economy and future generations. The establishment of DTH is linked with direct and indirect job opportunities. Dish TV (the Indian DTH) top boxes are already being imported through China and Dubai, and are sold throughout Pakistan. Each illegal distributor is earning millions of dollars, out of which 98 percent goes to India. Consequently, a total of $ 150 million is sent across the border without tax deduction. Besides this, the whopping amount of tax generation that would have happened if Pakistan had its own DTH will only remain a dream. And lastly, our people will continue watching Indian content and we will be unable to truly allow our film and television industry to surpass its competition from across the border.
Coming back to the bona fide comments passed by the anchor who requested the government to give us a reason for this traitorous settlement, I would also like to know the justification behind this act. If the news about the government selling DTH rights to India is fallacious, then someone from the government should come clean by providing thousands of Pakistanis who still await the installation of DTH with a communiqué.
The writer is a freelance columnist