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Govt to raise TV license fee in electricity bills

Published by TV Explore on January 23, 2010

The government is set to raise TV license fee collected through electricity bills from Rs 25 to 35 in response to a request by the Pakistan Television (PTV) Corporation to the Finance Ministry, sources said on Wednesday.

They said PTV Managing Director Arshad Khan talked to the sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting at the PTV Headquarters regarding an increase. “During the sub-committee’s last meeting held at the PTV Headquarters, company MD Arshad Khan said the management was successfully recovering outstanding dues from advertising companies and government departments,” the sources added. They said the PTV MD requested the sub-committee that PTV should be assisted through an increase in the license fee as it still faced a financial crunch. “Khan further told the committee that the Finance Ministry had already given a go-ahead to PTV in this regard,” the sources said. It is pertinent to mention here that the government had included a TV license fee of Rs 25 in electricity bills and the decision had been taken to steer PTV out of its financial crisis.

According to reports, PTV collects revenue worth approximately Rs 3.5 billion through this tax. During Dr Shahid Masood’s tenure as MD in 2008, the standing committee had criticised the system of collecting TV license fee through monthly electricity bills and urged the government to replace it. PTV officials informed the House that the channel was earning Rs 3 billion annually from the licence fee through electricity bills. “The fee is collected without assessing whether or not a consumer owns a TV set,” PTV officials said. Committee members had criticised the government for collecting the licence fee from consumers in rural areas where PTV’s transmission does not reach.

The committee had asked the government to collect the fee from only those consumers who are availing the service. Another issue regarding the TV licence fee between PTV and WAPDA is that the channel does not want to give a share of 20 percent as collection charges to WAPDA from the Rs 25 licence fee. Senator Tariq Azim told Daily Times that the PTV management had asked the sub-committee to approve an increase of Rs 10 in the licence fee. “Our committee has not yet decided whether to propose an increase in the fee or not,” he added. irfan bukhari /

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