TV and the Video Age
Pakistan after independence took some seventeen years before entering the
video age. It was 26 November 1964, when people of Lahore flocked around a few TV sets displayed in public places to witness the first ever TV transmission in the country. The black and white TV later changed into
colour and soon all provincial metropolises had regular TV transmissions. It was the dish antenna and very lately the cable TV network that has taken the TV transmissions almost every location in Pakistan.
The state owned Pakistan
Television maintained its monopoly for a long time. The PTV dramas were once
the most captivating and artfully directed. Dramas like "Waris, An Kahi,
Taleem e Balghan, Khuda ki Basti,and many more". Lately, due to encouragement and very liberal media policy of the government, many new private channels have sprang up and now the people of Pakistan have a wide choice of selection from these channels. Some of these include the Indus Vision, ATV, Aaj TV,
ARY, Hum, Geo and many more.
These TV channels have given new dimension to media, quality and ingenuity
both in production of dramas, serials and news.
Traditionally, the general public like plays or
soap operas, while lately the talk shows and HardLine type critical
one-to-one shows are also picking up popularity. Besides Urdu TV channels, a
number of American, European, and Asian TV channels and movies are available
to a majority of the population via cable and satellite. Recently the Urdu
version of MTV has also been introduced, much to the liking of the youth of
Pakistan.
| PTV ENGLISH WORLD NEWS
|
16 February 2007