Federal information minister Shibli Faraz has turned down the news of state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV)’s privatisation.
Talking on a private channel, the information minister called it ‘baseless and said that the government is not looking to privatize PTV. “The channel is being restructured,” the minister maintained.
Shibli Faraz said that a new board of directors will soon be hired to oversee PTV’s operations. We are working on the channel’s managerial structure, he said by adding, “I have been a minister for the last eight months and never have we ever discussed the idea.”
Previously, it was reported that the government had decided to privatize the state-run TV channel. According to sources, the federal cabinet committee on privatisation approved the privatisation and only the cabinet’s nod was awaited to seal the deal.
Initially, 18 institutions were on the government privatisation programme’s list but recently more names were added, including PTV’s.
Some of the information the committee has requested includes:
- Regulatory and legal framework
- Governance/management structure
- Market share
- Financial structure including net equity
- Latest audited financial statement
- Profit and loss statement for the last five years
- Non-performing loans/receivables for this year
- Liabilities as of June 2020
The committee wants this information within seven days.
