ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has suspended the license of an American cartoon channel for airing cartoons dubbed in Hindi language, in a fresh move to enforce a complete ban on Indian TV and radio contents amid Indo-Pak tensions.
“PEMRA has decided to suspend license of Nickelodeon for showing cartoon dubbed in Hindi. The channel violated the October 19 decision by PEMRA which banned showing Indian contents,” it said in a statement.
The authority had announced on 19 October that any satellite channel or those with landing rights would face bans over screening of Indian content, in order to enforce a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.
PEMRA Suspends Landing Rights Permission of “Nickelodeon” pic.twitter.com/yQ9K1jh4gL
— Report PEMRA (@reportpemra) October 31, 2016
The Monday’s statement issued by PEMRA said that all distribution networks have been informed about the suspension of Nickelodeon channels. The decision came into effect immediately. It has been implemented on the cable networks, including the channels being operated by cable operators.
ARY Communications is the channel’s landing rights holder in Pakistan.
This story of Pakistan and India told through Tom & Jerry makes a lot of sense
The PEMRA decision is largely seen as a tit-for-tat move after a similar action was taken by some channels and the entertainment industry in India against Pakistani content and artists.
Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is owned by the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom.
