ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting expressed concern over Pakistan Television’s (PTV Sports) decision to not participate in biddings for Pakistan’s cricket series against Sri Lanka and South Africa in the UAE and allowing its competitor Geo Super to grab the honours.

The committee members also criticised Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi who allegedly did a big favour to Geo Super because of his association with the group. The members demanded an immediate inquiry into the affair.

A meeting of the committee, chaired by Kamil Ali Agha, reviewed the impact on revenue in broadcasting of the cricket series. It is pertinent to mention that the PCB has sold global rights of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series to Geo Super for US$3.5 million. Global rights of the Pakistan-South Africa series have been sold to Ten Sports for US$5.9 million.

PTV’s committee headed by Col (retd) Hassan decided not to participate in the biddings because of shortage of funds and will get sub-license from both channels. Although PTV claims that it will spend only US$4.5 million to get the sub-license for both the series, it might be forced to telecast both series through terrestrial (antenna) while Geo Super and Ten Sports would show matches through cable network.

Members of the committee were of the view that the PTV should not give its space to other channels because if the private channels manage to attract the viewers, there will be no place left for PTV in the market.

Saeed Ghani, a member of the committee belonging to PPP, said that it was strange that the PTV did not participate in the bidding process and an inquiry should be initiated into the reasons behind this move.

“The PCB gives global license for five years but this time it has issued separate licenses for both the series due to which I suspect that PCB chairman Najam Sethi has given some benefit to Geo Super because of his association with the group. An inquiry committee should be established to find out the reasons why PTV did not participate in bidding process,” he insisted.

Senator Farhatullah Babar, Rubina Khalid and Saeeda Iqbal, also belonging to the PPP, criticised the PTV’s decision to stay away from bidding.

Former PTV managing director Yousuf Baig Mirza, who was requested by the committee to participate in the meeting and brief the members about the issue, said that PTV should have gone for the bidding because PTV earns most of its revenue because of sports.

“After a long struggle and court cases, PTV Sports has earned status of a terrestrial, cable and satellite channel. But now it can be forced to telecast matches as a terrestrial channel,” he said.

“At the moment 65 per cent viewers have been using cable networks and only 35 per cent Pakistanis have been using terrestrial television. Besides, most of the advertising agencies are interested to target residents of urban areas where almost 100 per cent people use cable networks, so PTV will get less business,” he argued.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that PTV should be careful while taking such decisions because they can put the future of the employees at stake.

Another member of the committee Syed Zafar Ali Shah, who belongs to PML-N, while talking to Dawn said that it was a serious issue, suggesting it should be discussed in detail in the next meeting.