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. 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
Lahore. 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. Private industries commercials were permitted with no fee; initially all the commercials of industrial conglomerates were tax-free with no additional charges. 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. 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. The PTV was considered as source of major
national integration. Regional headquarters of PTV and television centers were established in
Peshawar and
Quetta in 1974. During this time, the PTV's interview programming series brought many scientists, politicians, sportsmen, actors, musicians, and artists to public fame. 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.
Controversies The PTV, being the state broadcaster, has exclusive access to telecast the parliamentary sessions through its PTV Parliament channel. The PTV Parliament has sustained criticism of censoring the critique and speeches critical to the ruling party by the opposition leaders on several occasions. During March 2024, the PTV Parliament censored the speeches and critiques of politicians,
Akhtar Mengal,
Asad Qaiser,
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, and
Omar Ayub Khan when they spoke of the Pakistani military's interference in the political process. ==Channels==