LAHORE: A full member bench on Wednesday banned the auction of Direct-to-Home service (DTH) licenses, declaring it ‘illegal’ in its ruling.
The bench, head
ed by Justice Aisha A Malik, ruled sub-Article 3 of Article 13 of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) as illegal an
d said that a
broadcaster can also become a distributor.
In November, PEMRA auctioned three DTH licenses for Rs 14.69 billion. The highest bid was rais
ed by Mag Entertainment for Rs 4.91 billion, follow
ed by Shahzad Sky for Rs 4.90 billion and Star time for Rs 4.89 billion, respectively.
Licenses
to the bid winners were to be awarded after clearance from the interior ministry and law enforcement agencie
s.
The auction process had been started after conditional permission from the Supreme Court.
