ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhary, said on Sunday that his ministry would be launching a local version of US-based media services provider Netflix within six months, where content would be subject to Pakistan Electronic and Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) guidelines.
PEMRA, an independent federal institution, has been mired in controversy in recent years, and has often come under fire by civil libertarians for directing private television channels to censor and bring content in line with Pakistan’s religious and cultural ‘values.’
Earlier this month, PEMRA blocked in the country the all-Pakistani critically acclaimed web series “Churails” over ‘indecent content.’ The series was being aired on an international entertainment network, and was later restored for Pakistani audiences.
“We are all set to launch Pakistan’s first OTT TV, the Pakistani version of Netflix within six months,” Chaudhary told Arab News.
“As soon as PEMRA will complete guidelines, we will bring together technology companies and content companies to one platform and will ask them to join hands with us for the start of the OTT service,” he added.
According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), there are 87 million Internet users in Pakistan-- the project’s potential subscribers. This will be the country’s first over the top (OTT) platform.
“OTT has a lot of scope in Pakistan because we have a lot of smartphone users,” Chaudhary said.
#LISTEN: #Pakistan to launch video-on-demand #OTT service in six months, says science minister @FawadChaudhry.
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Full story by @iSaimaShabbir: https://t.co/SIR8f9RY3L pic.twitter.com/KPHP8SDCoK— Arab News Pakistan (@arabnewspk) October 26, 2020
Currently, Netflix is available in the majority Urdu-speaking country with most of its content streamed in English and available for a monthly subscription of up to Rs1,500 ($9). There is a small category for Pakistani soap operas in the regional offerings of the media giant.
Chaudhary said the local platform would be launched on ‘public-private partnership mode,’ with PEMRA’s guidelines overseeing content.
On the quality of content, Chaudhary said private companies who produce and share content would be responsible for meeting the regulatory body’s guidelines.
“We have completed the technology part with the help of local companies-- which include the compression of data and a local server as international servers cost a lot. It will be a totally indigenously built technology project,” Chaudhary said.
OTT platforms require high-level compression technology for the smooth streaming of videos even at slower Internet speeds as well as a heavy server for data storage.
Amir Jahangir, founder and CEO of Rinstra technology, a streaming and OTT platform, said that such a service was the need of the hour and would create prospects for Pakistan’s young artists and creative minds.
“The entertainment industry in Pakistan needs more content subject diversity,” Jahangir told Arab News.
“This can be achieved if our youth, young artists and writers are given an opportunity to express the issues that impact them.”
But Pakistani creatives are not so sure the regulated OTT platform is the right space for that expression.
“PEMRA has no idea of creative content. If you want a propaganda OTT service then nobody will care about it,” Sadia Jabbar, a Pakistani television and film producer currently producing a web series, told Arab News.
She added that a ‘Netflix type’ platform could not have creative freedom under PEMRA-- which she said had “already lost its credibility with its orthodox mindset.”
In 2016, PEMRA served a notice to a television drama, Udaari, that touched upon themes of child abuse in Pakistan, citing it was ‘immoral content.
“Entertainment content covers both sides of a society-- positive and structural problems,” Jabbar said.
“You cannot ignore that and restrict the creative mind from showing it.”
