Lessons from the Pakistan cable operators’ strike

IN Media Practice | 31/08/2003

Cable operators across the country took Pakistani private television channels off the air to pressure the government into lifting the ban on Indian channels.

By B. Muralidhar Reddy in Islamabad

Nation wide agitations in Pakistan are rare.  Protests in support of the demand for an Indian product or service are unthinkable. But this is precisely what happened on August 24 when the cable operators throughout the country launched a week long hartal by taking Pakistani private television channels off the air to pressure the government to lift the ban on Indian TV channels!

Though it fizzled out mid-way, thanks to the enormous pressure exerted on the operators by an embarrassed government, it would go down as a unique event in the annals of Pakistan`s history. A country, which unfortunately has come to define its identity by its anti-Indiaism, witnessed a strike for Indian entertainment! Could there be a more fascinating subject for serious study by a social scientist?

Despite the risk of being accused of making sweeping generalisations, the strike has demolished several myths about Indo-Pak relations. Perhaps like no single event before it has brought out the difference between governments and people. People might make a government but the two are not synonymous. Hostilities between governments, with all the tom-toming on all the available forums, do not necessarily poison minds of people to the extent imagined.

What else could be the explanation for the clamour for Indian channels in Pakistan given the near two years of tension that almost brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war? Of course economics has also played a major role in the development but again economics does not function in a vacuum. It is all about demand and supply to the people.

The cable operator`s strike is all the more significant in the context of the developments in the last two to three years in the field of electronic media. The cable industry in Pakistan was legalised in 2000 during the military rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan Television (PTV) had total monopoly in the television industry till private channels, run from outside but catering to Pakistani audiences, began surfacing in mid-2002.

Prior to the advent of private channels catering to Pakistanis, the television industry in the country was completely dominated by the Indian channels, news and entertainment. In fact Pakistan was so hard hit by the patriotic fervour of some of the Indian channels during the Kargil war that the establishment for the first time seriously began considering competition to the much-maligned PTV.

Some of the political analysts in Pakistan seriously believe that while Pakistan actually won the war in the heights of Kargil mountains, it lost the `propaganda` war unleashed by the Indian government and whipped up by the Indian sarkari and private channels. There is perhaps an element of truth as Kargil war is acknowledged to be the first Indian TV war and similar adventures by Pakistani military in the past have not received such close attention.

Post-Kargil the Indian news and entertainment channels became part of the regular feature of the Pakistan cable industry. There were occasions when the government fretted and fumed over the alleged anti-Pakistan bias of some of the Indian channels but that was it. It must be said to the credit of Pakistan government that it did not place any restrictions on the news channels.

On the entertainment front a storm was brewing. People across Pakistan were slowly and steadily getting addicted to the Hindi soap operas. They lapped up the Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi type of serials. All the glitter and glamour that went with the soaps perhaps provided the much needed relief they were looking though culturally much of what was portrayed by the characters was not acceptable to the Pakistani society.

It was against this backdrop that December 13 Parliament attack took place and Indo-Pak ties hit a three-decade low. The tensions triggered by amassing of troops and the daily dose of allegations and counter allegations provided the much-needed opportunity to Islamabad to impose a ban first on news and then a blanket one on all Indian channels.

The period also coincided with the birth of private channels, up-linking from other countries, exclusively aimed at Pakistani audiences. These included the ARY and Indus which operate from London. Geo TV, established exactly a year ago, functions from Dubai. In the last few months several more have come up and are struggling to establish their identity.

There are two reasons why these channels are not up-linked from Pakistan. The first and most important reason is that they want their functional freedom. Obviously they have no faith in the Pakistani establishment on this score. Till recently Pakistan government policy on up-linking was not clear, as it had placed several restrictions like nature of ownership of the company.

Second all these channels are aiming at audiences beyond Pakistan. Cable reaches over 10 per cent of the population in Pakistan and it is not bad penetration given the population of 140 million. But the advertisement avenues and revenues in Pakistan are limited. So it is not easy for a new TV  channel exclusively dependent on the  Pakistan market to break even quickly.

These were some of the dynamics at work when the cable operators chose to raise a banner of revolt and do some thing equivalent of blasphemy. Credit for giving courage to the cablewallahs goes entirely to the Track-II optimists on both sides of the border. The atmosphere created by them provided the cable operators much needed space to fill in their demands.     

To begin with the Cable Operators Association of Pakistan was sheepish in articulating its demand. "Why is the government banning popular entertainment channels?" screamed a huge front-page advertisement put out by the Association. Though it did not identify the channels, the reference was obviously to the Indian television channels that beam popular serials and Bollywood films.

In an appeal to the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali the cable operators made a passionate appeal for help to `save the cable industry` that provided employment to over two lakh people across the country.

There is little doubt that the cable industry was adversely affected on account of the ban on Indian channels. Not only did the number of subscribers come down but also some entrepreneurs made millions by selling video copies of the popular soap operas on the Indian channels. Piracy in Pakistan is rampant and virtually every new Bollywood film is released through the underground network one day before.

To circumvent the ban cable operators had began beaming both old and latest Bollywood films on the local channels. The Information Ministry recently came down heavily on this practice and threatened serious action. The issue figured at the recent meeting between the delegation of Indian parliamentarians and Gen. Musharraf.  The Pakistan President stuck to the view that some of the Indian channels indulged in propaganda. It appears that the  strike, which was called off on the fourth day after verbal assurances from the authorities, was a roaring success.

In a bid to mollify the cable operators and muster support of general public against allowing telecast of Indian channels the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) announced on Thursday that a ban on Indian TV channels was imposed to encourage flourishing  of the local electronic media industry.

A PEMRA spokesman said action against the Indian channels was taken to improve the  level of Pakistan`s broadcast industry so that it could compete with  foreign media. The spokesman sought to `dispel` the impression that PEMRA had banned the channels for other reasons and said the authority had only one agenda and that was to promote local radio and TV channels. He said the Authority was equally concerned about the cable TV industry problems and was also trying to resolve them. He said the tariff for foreign channels would be finalised after public consent and a public hearing would be organised soon in this regard. He said the cable TV operators` problems regarding local government and utility organisations would also be resolved.

But alas the worst hit on account of the strike were the private TV channels. At least some of them contested the government version that the ban on Indian channels was meant to protect their interests and wondered as to why in such a case the government was not allowing up-linking facilities.

The episode proves that culture or entertainment has no boundaries and artificial boundaries erected by establishments will crumble if people`s patience is tested too much. There is definitely a lesson in the Pakistan cable strike for the governments of India and Pakistan.

B Muralidhar Reddy is the Islamabad correspondent of the Hindu. Contact: hindibd@comsats.net.pk