Although its film industry revenue is strongly tied to neighbouring India and its film productions, Pakistan is gaining viewership, say lawyers, in a market that has been troubled by political tension between both countries.
Salim Hasan, a partner at Meer & Hasan, said: “Local productions are seeing growth because of the tension between India and Pakistan and banned Indian channels in Pakistan.”
He added: “There are new channels that are very popular and entertainment channels so viewership has grown.”
Disputes over the border territory of Kashmir, which started last year, led to media market retaliation with Indian filmmakers banning Pakistani actors, singers and technicians and Pakistan banning Indian films from cinemas.
Nadeem Mandviwalla, who owns a chain of cinemas, told Al Jazeera “No Indian movie will play on any of my eight screens until normalcy returns.”
Television is the most dominant media segment in Pakistan and is part of a dynamic broadcast sector. In the course of November and December last year, the country’s electronic media regulator, PEMRA,announced various licence suspensions and bans on Indian content on television and radio. In December PEMRA suspended Channel-24 for seven days.
In a press release PEMRA stated: ‘The decision has been announced for airing false, unverified audio clip by the channel on Dec 7, 2016 claiming that it was of the ill-fated PIA plane.’
PEMRA also highlighted the ‘adverse mental and psychological impact on the family member of those on board the plane and the general public’.
In other news the Pakistan Super League (PSL) set new standards in 2017 for digital entertainment with over one million viewers in just three days.
In collaboration with Trans Media Group & ITW Media, marketing rights holder Blitz Advertising launched Pakistan’s first DRM-based exclusive live stream, giving full tournament coverage with PSL setting a high viewership benchmark for future sports events.
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Ali & Associates has leading industry expertise with a high portfolio client base. The firm acts for Disney, TV One, music channel 9XM and Independent Media Corp. In highlighted work the team acted for a subsidiary of Sony Television on the bidding process for exclusive global television rights for Pakistan’s cricket matches, auctioned for the first time for a period of five years. Lawyers have in-depth knowledge of media law and work on cross-sector deals and cases.
