The Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) is the state-run television service in Pakistan, and has been on the air since 1964.

History

Unlike other state-run corporations, the television company was allowed by the Government of Pakistan to raise a sizable amount of private capital to finance the stations. In October 1963, the government signed an agreement with the NEC company in Japan to have NEC operate affiliates for PTV. On 26 November 1964, the first television station commenced broadcasts in the cities of Lahore, and Dhaka (then the capital of East Pakistan). Centres were established in Karachi and Rawalpindi/Islamabad in 1967, and in Peshawar and Quetta in 1974.

Originally broadcast in black and white, the equipment became outdated over time and was finally replaced with the colour standard on February 18, 1982. [1] With this new upgrade in techniques and equipment, the Pakistan Television Academy was founded and opened in 1987 to teach students who wished to work in the medium. As with the other agreement, the government financed most of the funds while the private venture capitalists offered to fund the remainder.

PTV TODAY and its channels

Currently, PTV can be received via satellite in South Asia, East Asia and in the Middle East. Selected programming can be seen on PTV Prime in the United Kingdom, across Europe and the United States.

Today PTV is split up into the original channel feed, a 24-hour news channel (PTV World News) which can be viewed in many parts of the globe, Channel 3 (broadcasting family-friendly programming), PTV National (with an emphasis in broadcasting programmes in different languages to represent the whole of Pakistan), and AJK TV, for Pakistani residents of Kashmir.