Pakistan Television Corporation

Pakistan Television Corporation (Urdu: پاکستان ٹیلی وژن نیٹ ورک; reporting name: PTV); also known as Pakistan Television, is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster founded by the Government of Pakistan, operating under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It was established on 26 November 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore.
The idea of establishing a media and television industry was conceived in late 1956 and created by the privately set up national education commission with the support of President Ayub Khan in 1960. In 1961, the private sector media mogul and industrialist Syed Wajid Ali launched a television industrial development project, bringing the role of Ubaidur Rahman, an electrical engineer in the Engineering Division of Radio Pakistan, as the project director of the first television station in Lahore. Ali reached a milestone in 1961 after establishing a private television broadcasting company with the cooperation of Nippon Electric Company (NEC) of Japan and Thomas Television International of the United Kingdom.
In 1963, a public meeting was chaired by President Ayub Khan, in which the government made decisions about the Pakistan Television stations and the media industry in the country. Since 1963, its headquarters are in Islamabad, near the Cabinet Secretariat. From 1961 to 1962, a television headquarters was established in Lahore and several pilot transmission tests were taken by Rahman's team. Subsequently, many television divisions were established throughout Pakistan by this team, including East-Pakistan.
Although it was originally supposed to go on air on 1 September 1964, the first-ever news broadcast was done on 26 November 1964 after an introduction by Syed Wajid Ali which was beamed as a black and white transmission by the PTV. The first programme, formatted by Thomson Television International, telecast amateur programmes with foreign films; the television division in the Punjab Province was established with the help of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Colombo Plan, and the Government of Japan. Aslam Azhar (1932–29 December 2015) was appointed the first managing director of the Pakistan Television in charge of all the staffing requirements at the first PTV Lahore, Center. This first managing director and executive Aslam Azhar is widely considered to be the "father of Pakistan Television". Private industries commercials were permitted with no fee; initially all the commercials of industrial conglomerates were tax-free with no additional charges.
The PTV remained under the private sector management with more than half of the shares were sold to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a fear that all shares would fall into the hands of government in the name of greater interest of the country.
The project began with a tent on the back lot of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation by Ubaidur Rahman where a transmission tower and a studio were constructed by his team. On 26 November 1964, President Ayub Khan inaugurated the first official television station commencing transmission broadcasts from Lahore, followed by Dacca on 25 December 1964 (then the capital of East Pakistan; renamed to Bangladesh Television in 1971), a third centre was established in Rawalpindi and Islamabad in 1965 and the fourth in Karachi in 1966. On 29 May 1967, a private company was established as Pakistan Television Corporation under the Company Act, 1913, whereas the private sector remained charged with broadcasting on the television. At that time, all studio programmes were telecasted live as no VTR recording machines were available, which were made available in 1968.
After the Indo-Pakistani war in 1971, the PTV was nationalized and brought in completely under the government-ownership management by the then President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government. Communication network expansion was vast by the PTV and government publicly funded its infrastructure expansion all over the country.
Promotion of regional literature, science-fiction miniseries, country music, and romanticizing rural values in drama playwrights were on-aired by the PTV, at the behest of public funding by the Government of Pakistan. The PTV was considered as source of major national integration.
Microwave National Network was established among the centres of PTV in 1973 while Quetta and Peshawar centers were started in 1974.
The PTV transmission switched over from its original black and white to color transmission in 1975. Regional headquarters of PTV and television centers were established in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974. In 1977–78, the PTV broadcast the live Cricket match between England vs. Pakistan. During this time, the PTV's interview programming series brought many scientists, politicians, sportsmen, actors, musicians, and artists to public fame.
By the 1980s, the transmissions of PTV could be reached over 90% area of Pakistan. In 1980s, the PTV was the sole provider of television, and dominated the electronic media industry. During 1980s, the conservative ideas were promoted on the PTV as part of the government policy, and heavy investments were made on the promotion of education programming series.
In 1990s, the PTV's programming was said initially to have intellectual appeal but succumbed to commercial pressure. In 1992, the composition of PTV's programming was based upon on 56% of entertainment, and only 25% of news and educational programmes. About 54% of national programming was based on Urdu and only 16% accounted for English.
Unlike other state-run corporations, Pakistan Television Corporation was allowed by the Government of Pakistan to raise a sizable amount of private capital to finance the stations. This includes a Rs. 35 per month TV fee charge to all consumers of electricity.
PTV, being the state broadcaster, has exclusive access to telecast parliamentary sessions. It has been observed to censor speeches of opposition leaders on several occasions. During March 2024, the broadcaster censored the speeches of Akhtar Mengal, Asad Qaiser, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, and Omar Ayub. The speeches of Achakzai, Ayub, and Mengal were completely blacked out for speaking about Pakistani military's interference in the political process. In response, the lawmakers submitted a privilege motion against the broadcaster.
PTV operates the following channels:
On 9 June 2022 Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb and PTV launches PTV Films Division along with another initiative was being launched by the name of PTV Flix which would feature the 75 years of rich content in the form of dramas, films and other genres in the archives of PTV. The purpose of these is to bring films to the PTV screen but also to generate quality content in the country.
Established in 1987, Pakistan Television Academy is an apex TV institution in Pakistan, which imparts professional training in disciplines of television broadcast technology. It is headed by a full-time director and assisted by a team of television professionals who are members of the academic faculty.