Pakistan Television Corporation — BrandWiki

Pakistan Television Corporation

Overview

country	Pakistan
language	Urdu, English
headquarters	Islamabad
network type	Broadcast Satellite television
available	Nationwide and Worldwide
owner	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan
launch date	November 26, 1964
key people	Ambreen Jan (Managing Director)
broadcast area	Pakistan and World
website	www.ptv.com.pk
picture format	1080p HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 576i for SDTV sets)
branding	PTV

Pakistan Television Corporation (reporting name: PTV), also known as Pakistan Television, is the Pakistani public broadcaster based in Islamabad, Pakistan, which comprises a number of TV channels.

The PTV is operated and managed directly under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of federal Government of Pakistan since its founding on 26 November 1964 when a pilot television station was established at Lahore, Punjab.

History

Background

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.[1] 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

First-ever broadcast and private ownership

Although it was originally supposed to go on air on 1 September 1964,[2] 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.[1] 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".[3] Private industries commercials were permitted with no fee; initially all the commercials of industrial conglomerates were tax-free with no additional charges.[1]

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.[1]

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,[4] followed by Dacca on 25 December 1964 (then the capital of East Pakistan; renamed Bangladesh Television in 1971), a third centre was established in Rawalpindi and Islamabad in 1965 and the fourth in Karachi in 1966.[1] 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.[1] At that time, all studio programmes were telecasted live as no VTR recording machines were available, which were made available in 1968.

Nationalization of Pakistan Television

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.[1] Communication network expansion was vast by the PTV and government publicly funded its infrastructure expansion all over the country.[1] Until then, PTV refused to cater political topics, but started giving equal airtime for each party.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7][8] Regional headquarters of PTV and television centers were established in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974.[6] In 1977–78, the PTV broadcast the live Cricket match between England vs. Pakistan.[9] During this time, the PTV's interview programming series brought many scientists, politicians, sportsmen, actors, musicians, and artists to public fame.[1]

Development

By the 1980s, the transmissions of PTV could be reached over 90% area of Pakistan.[6] In 1980s, the PTV was the sole provider of television, and dominated the electronic media industry.[10] 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.[10]

In 1990s, the PTV's programming was said initially to have intellectual appeal but succumbed to commercial pressure.[10] 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.[10]

Channels

PTV operates the following channels:

PTV Home – 24-hour HD Entertainment channel (the original PTV also called as PTV ONE), the transmission is broadcast across Pakistan on terrestrial network and worldwide through satellite. The content of the terrestrial and satellite channel is different, for example, terrestrial programming includes live telecast of Pakistan's cricket matches but satellite channel cannot broadcast these matches.
PTV News – 24-hour Urdu HD News Channel which can be viewed in many parts of the globe. Replaced PTV World in 2007.[7]
PTV Sports– 24-hour HD Sports channel that started its regular transmission from January 2012, it was planned in 2003 in Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's tenure but not launched due to political reasons. Now it's a cricket channel which is scrambled and not free for viewers on satellite. Another channel for sports is in pipeline since February 2016.
Pakistan TV – 24-hour English News and Current affairs channel. Started as PTV-2 in 1992 as first satellite channel of Pakistan, was given a new name of PTV World in 1998 later and went off air in 2007, it was re-launched in January 2013. It was renamed as Pakistan TV in September 2025
PTV Global – Offered exclusively for the Pakistani diaspora in the United States on Dish Network, and Europe.
PTV National – An emphasis on broadcasting programmes in different languages to represent the whole of Pakistan.
AJK TV [PTV Azad Jammu & Kashmir] – For the residents of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
PTV Bolan – For speakers of Balochi Pashto and Brahvi.
PTV Parliament – Launched on 30 May 2018, brings live proceedings of Pakistani parliament and its committees.[14]
PTV Teleschool - Launched on 14 April 2020, to compensate for academic loss in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]

PTV Films Division

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.[16][17]

Training academy

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.[7]

List of people associated with PTV

• Kanwal Naseer – First female and first female face of Pakistan Television.

• Sabri Brothers – Renowned Qawwali Singers And PTV Performers

• Laeeq Ahmed – First TV Compere, First Commentator and Anchor Person. He was the only person who was awarded PTV awards in three different categories

• Aziz Mian – Renowned Qawwali Singer And PTV Performer

• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Renowned Qawwali And Ghazal Singer & A PTV Performer

• Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari – father of broadcasting in Pakistan; appointed first General Manager of PTV - Karachi Center in 1967, but soon resigned due to political differences with Ayub Khan regime[18]

• Agha Nasir – PTV Producer/Director of Programming at Lahore Centre

• Ashfaq Ahmed – author of PTV drama serials[19]

• Zia Mohyeddin – anchorperson on PTV Shows in the 1970s

• Tariq Aziz - Host of the longest running quiz show

• Muneeza Hashmi – producer of PTV Programs in the 1970s; daughter of renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz

• Fazila Qazi

• Firdous Jamal – TV actor

• Qavi Khan – TV actor

• Kashif Mehmood – TV actor

• Irfan Khoosat – TV actor

• Ayesha Sana – TV actress

• Nauman Ejaz – TV actor

• Anwar Maqsood - Host

• Bushra Ansari - Actress[20]

• Sohail Rana - Musician. Kalion ki Mala program

• Moin Akhter – TV comedian

• Sohail Ahmed – TV comedian

• Tariq Aziz – TV host

• Shoaib Mansoor – TV producer-director

• Ayub Khawar – TV director

• Mahmood Ali - Actor

• Behroze Sabzwari -Actor

• Roohi Bano - Actress

• Khalida Riyasat -Actress

• Amjad Islam Amjad – author of PTV dramas

• Ghayyur Akhtar – TV actor

• Haseena Moin - author of PTV dramas

• Munnu Bhai – author of PTV dramas

• Rashid Mehmood – TV actor

• Obaidullah Baig – TV host

• Siddiq Ismail – Naat Khawan

• Dildar Pervaiz Bhatti – TV host

• Mumtaz Hamid Rao – director of news

• Fatima Surayya Bajia – TV drama writer

• Javed Jabbar – TV film director

• Mehreen Jabbar – TV film director

• Mohammed Ehteshamuddin

• Tufail Niazi – renowned folk singer and PTV performer

• Anwar Sajjad – author of PTV dramas

• Kazim Pasha

• Rauf Khalid

• Zafar Mairaj

• Syed Bilal Naqvi Producer and Director[21]

• Tauseeq Haider

• Mustansar Hussain Tarar – PTV anchorperson

• Alam Lohar – renowned folk singer and PTV performer

• Mahpara Safdar - newscaster

• Suraiya Shahab, newscaster

• Azhar Lodhi, newscaster

• Khalid Hameed, newscaster

• Abdus Salam, newscaster

Pakistan Television Corporation

History

Background

First-ever broadcast and private ownership

Nationalization of Pakistan Television

Development

Development

State capital revenue

Controversies

Channels

PTV Films Division

Training academy

List of people associated with PTV

See also

External links

References