The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulation Authority (Pemra) eyes over Rs 6 billion investment in 2006-07 from the phenomenal growth of electronic media. The Pemra report, that covers a period from 2003 to 2006, says that the expected earning, excluding government spending on the development of state-owned media, is now worth billions of rupees.
This calculation of the Authority is based on the licences it has issued so far for various ventures in the electronic media. Going by its assessment, the satellite television is all poised to fetch something like Rs 3,000 million, 'Multi-channel Multi-point Distribution System (MMDS) Rs 655 million, Direct-To-Home (DTH) technology Rs 580 million, Teleport facility Rs 500 million and FM radio sector Rs 255 million in the shape of private investment.
According to rough estimates, the national television networks earned advertising revenues amounting to Rs 3.4 billion to Rs 3.6 billion in 2003-04 and around Rs 5.5 billion to Rs 6.00 billion by the end of 2005-06.
During the same period, the cable networks raised Rs 0.3 billion from subscription fee. And these earnings are bound to witness an upward spiral in the wake of the country's economic buoyancy. The Authority's own projection by the year 2010, worked out on conservative estimates, conjures up a delightful picture.
The Authority expects the cable sector's revenues to touch the mark of Rs 11.5 billion from subscription fees, and the television sector's revenues to soar somewhere Rs 9 billion to Rs 10.7 billion by the year 2010. The actual earnings may possibly surpass even these projections, it said.
For the prospective private investor, the field is indeed replete with opportunities and choices for enterprise. Even at this point in time, the prevalent conditions in the country can easily sustain the establishment of over 230 FM radio stations, at least 12 to 15 satellite TV channels, around 3,000 cable networks, more than 25 MMDS stations, and about two DTH operations.
In the cable and television sectors alone, this projection foretells of a revolutionary transformation. The present 10 million TV homes, out of the total 24 million households, for instance, should shoot up to 21 million TV homes out of the projected 31 million households by the year 2010.
The existing television viewer-ship of 50 million people is thus logically going to record a phenomenal increase over this period, growing as it is even now by half a million per year.
But the country's robust economic rejuvenation is destined to impart a sharp upward revision to these projections. And, according to one study of the Authority, in the satellite TV sector alone, about 36 to 44 channels may become viable until the year 20l0.
The Authority, therefore, drew up an operational strategy to pursue the effort of opening up the electronic media to the private sector in a systematic and logical fashion.
Since October 2002, the Authority has awarded 86 FM radio licences for 56 cities of Pakistan through open and transparent bidding process. It is pertinent to mention that 51 of them have successfully launched their operations while the rest are at various stages of commissioning. In addition, the bidding to award 44 FM licences for various parts of country has been finalised and the licences are expected to be awarded soon. The Authority is expecting to have all districts of Pakistan at least one FM radio by the end of 2007.
Satellite television is the envy of the private investors, by and large, even though it is a costly proposition. A satellite TV channel of national scale costs no less than Rs 250 million annually to operate and a regional or niche channel something like Rs 125 million.
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