PEMRA revokes Bol News’ license

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has revoked the satellite television licenses which were earlier granted to Bol News and Bol Entertainment (Pak News). The decision was taken because the network had failed to secure clearance from the interior ministry, which it was supposed to in order to keep on operating.

The decision to revoke the licenses was revealed in a press release which was issued by Pemra on Wednesday. The decision comes after the interior ministry denied giving security clearance to the four directors of the network. The names of the directors are; Shoaib Shaikh, Ayesha Shoaib Shaikh, Viqas Atiq and Sarwat Bashir, of Messrs Labbaik (Pvt) Ltd, which owns the BOL News channel.

“Bol News and Bol Entertainment (Pak News) have been ordered to surrender the original licences and clear all the outstanding dues,” said the press release.

A meeting was chaired by Pemra Chairman Absar Alam at the headquarters on Tuesday, in which the decision to suspend Bol’s licenses was taken. The decision was taken in light of the recommendations put forward by the Council of Complaints (CoC) Sindh. The council had reached its consensus after hearing Bol News on the matter.

After the decision was announced, Pemra instructed PakSat, the telecommunication satellite company, to “immediately” stop the transmission of Bol News and Bol Entertainment (Pak News), which no longer hold Pemra licenses.

All the distribution networks and cable operators have also been asked to take these channels off-air and those found in violation of this order will be punished according to law.

So far the management of Bol Network has not responded to this decision.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54826

Posted by fatimaarshad on May 3 2017. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.