Saudi Arabia has allowed exhibition of Pakistani films: Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia had allowed exhibition of Pakistani films and dramas in the kingdom.

The minister, in a tweet, said in the coming two years the film industry would be converted into a significant revenue-generating industry.

He urged overseas Pakistanis to invest in the film and drama industry, assuring them that they would not be disappointed.

Chaudhry said that in coming six months PTV Sports, PTV News and PTV Home channels would be upgraded to high definition system.

New digital policy

Earlier in the day, the minister said the government would soon introduce a new digital policy for equipping the media with modern technology and facilities.

He was speaking to a delegation of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) during his visit to PTV Centre Lahore.

Chaudhry said a state-of-the-art media university would be established by merging the academies of Pakistan Television (PTV), Radio Pakistan and Information Ministry.

He said it was the government's responsibility to side with the poor and "we are standing with you people."

"There was a great human resource in the field of journalism, who, somehow, lacked skills and the government would work to equip them with skills and expertise in respective fields at the media university," the minister said.

Work was underway for the issuance of health cards to working journalists to ensure the provision of free-of-charge medical facilities of up to Rs550,000 to each of them, he added.

The minister said there was a positive development regarding DTH licenses. He said the government wanted to abolish its monopoly on media advertisements.

"Like the past governments, we cannot spend billions of rupees on media advertisements," he said, adding that the print media, however, would not be left to die on that count.

Chaudhry said the names of three judges had been proposed for Wage Board Award. "Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority would be established so that all modes of media would have the solution to their problems at one place."

Proposals for improving PTV programmes

During the visit, he also said the government would welcome proposals from writers and artistes community for improving the content of programmes aired by the Pakistan Television (PTV).

The minister urged the PTV employees to work on improving its content. He was also given a briefing about efforts for improvement in programmes.