As of around 6 PM yesterday, Pakistan’s National Broadcasting channel, PTV news went live on Youtube. The social media website owned by Google has more than 31 million channels, with new users sprouting every day. It has 2 billion active monthly users, meaning that any channel has the potential of reaching billions of users every month.
Keeping this in mind, many traditional channels have shifted to Youtube, and today, almost 16 years after its formation, Pakistan’s national broadcast would be streamed live on the website. This is part of the promises made by the incumbent Information Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry to reform his ministry and bring the national resources to the 21st century.
Fawad Chaudhry thus tweeted today, that PTV News is now available on YouTube, urging people to, “please follow link https://youtube.com/c/PTVNewsOfficial “.
PTV News is now available on @YouTube plz follow link https://t.co/Zcg9dS3pky also HD transmission ll start from June, Radio and TV revamping underway people will see change in two to three months Inshallah
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 12, 2021
He also again touched upon the schedule for turning the PTV news into a High Definition transmission, saying, “ HD transmission will start from June”
He added, “Radio and TV revamping underway people will see a change in two to three months Inshallah.”
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Previously holding the office of the Ministry of Science and Technology, when Mr. Chaudhry was given the current office, he tweeted on 21st that he would be continuing the reforms he started when he was given the ministry before. He has also indicated on an English News channel. PTV Global and PTV News (Urdu version) are the only two that exist today.
The minister pointed to PTV studios in Karachi and Lahore being renovated on the public-private partnership model. Furthermore, the minister said that the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) would be made a digital news agency.
Too late to the party
While we appreciate Mr. Fawad Chaudhry’s initiative, we have the right to ask why is PTV so late in the reformation. HDTV was introduced in 1989, and by late 2000s it was widely adopted throughout the world. But, the PTV would go HD in June 2021, only 32 years later than the launch of the technology.
We can agree that only a few news channels in Pakistan are HD, but even that is an example of Pakistan’s embarrassing lag in technology infrastructure and accessibility.
However, PTV is far behind the local news channels when it comes to having a Youtube stream. PTV launched its Youtube Channel in 2016 and Samaa Launched it in 2011.
The picture above shows the poor quality of transmission PTV is broadcasting, but to have a Youtube channel is still a good step.
The first YouTube live stream was in 2008, and the first one for PTV was yesterday.
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If PTV wants to catch up with the world, it has to sharpen the knives and catch up with the rest of the industry and set precedent as an unbiased national media agency.