ISLAMABAD: State-owned Pakistan Television Corporation achieved its “highest-ever” revenue target of Rs4 billion, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said Wednesday.
In a tweet, Chaudhry said the PTV was bankrupt when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government took its reins. Since coming to power in 2018, the government digitalised two channels and introduced an effective business model for the state broadcaster, he added.
“Today PTV is among the [cash bleeding] state institutions [turned] into profit-making entities,” the minister said.
پاکستان ٹیلی ویژن نے 4 ارب روپے کا ریونیو ٹارگٹ حاصل کیا ہے جو تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا ریونیو ہے، PTV جب ہمیں ملا تھا مکمل دیوالیہ تھا اس مختصر عرصے میں دو چینلز ڈیجیٹل کئے اور PTV کا بزنس ماڈل دیا آج PTV ان اداروں میں شامل ہے جو منافع میں ہیں
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 30, 2022
It is pertinent to mention here that in 2021, a cabinet committee on state-owned institutions removed PTV from the list of the state-owned institutions included in a privatisation list.
The committee took the decision at the request of the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting.
“A large-scale overhaul is planned by the government in the PTV,” the information secretary said, adding the overhaul would include financial and professional affairs, and other sections of the national television.