History

Prior to 2000, these were limited to the state-run PTV, PTV World News and Channel 3, but a new open media policy caused many new private channels to spring up over the years. These initially stole away nearly all of the PTV market while the initial hype lasted, but soon audiences were shunning even these channels for lack of quality, finally settling on eastablished local channels or Western channels.

State run

Pakistan Television Network, also referred to as PTV, is Pakistan’s state owned television network which operates on both terrestrial & satellite and seen in all parts of the world as well. The PTV network consists of 6 channels, which will increase to 11 by the end of 2006 with the introduction of new regional channels:

The main station is PTV and there are several other specialized channles which include: PTV National, PTV News, PTV Global and AJK TV. Pakistan Television Corporation has centers in six cities to cater to different region of the country located in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta. PTValso has four different language stations which include Bolochi, Punjabi, Pushto and Sindhi.

• PTV is divided into:
  • PTV - Providing viewers with soap operas, telefilms and live events
  • PTV World News - Providing for the Pakistani community throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa
  • PTV National - Providing viewers with news, education, and entertainment in regional languages
  • PTV Global - Providing for the Pakistani community in North America
  • PTV Prime - Providing for the Pakistani Community in Europe
  • PTV Bolan - Balochi language channel (Balochistan)
  • AJK TV - Kashmiri language channel (Azad Jammu & Kashmir)

Virtual University Also known as VU, Virtual University is Pakistan’s first university based completely on modern information and communication technologies. It was established by the federal government as a public sector institution with a clear mission; ‘to provide extremely affordable world class education to aspiring students all over the country’. VU uses free-to-air satellite television broadcasts and the internet to broadcast across the country.

• At the moment VU provides four channels in MCPC mode:
  • VU TV 1
  • VU TV 2
  • VU TV 3
  • VU TV 4

Privately owned

Since President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to lift the ban on media ownership in 2000, otherwise known as the “Media explosion” in Pakistan, many station have been become extremely popular including Geo TV, ARY and AAJ TV. Following is the list of established channles by category.

Business & Financial

• Business Plus
• CNBC Pakistan
• Sun Biz

Children & Education

• Cartoon Network Pakistan
• Nick Pakistan
• Wikkid Plus
• Virtual university VTV 1, Vtv 2, Vtv 3,Vtv 4,and Vtv 5

Infotainment

• City42
• ARY Digital
• ATV
• Dhoom TV
• DM Digital World
• Geo TV
• Hum TV
• Indus Vision
• Royal TV
• Rung TV
• Star Asia
• Sun Entertainment|Sun TV
• TVOne
• Watan TV
• Urooj TV

Fashion, Health & Cooking

• Fashion TV
• Style Duniya
• Hum TV
• Health Line TV
• Masala Tv

Movies

• Filmazia
• HBO Pakistan
• Filmworld
• Starlite TV
• Silver Screen

Music

• G Kaboom
• AAG TV
• Kashish Music
• MTV Pakistan
• nVIBE
• Play TV
• The Musik

News

• Sindh TV NEWS
• City42
• AAJ TV
• APNA News
• ARYONE World
• CNN South Asia
• City42
• DAWN News
• DIN News
• DM News Plus
• DUNYA TV [1]
• Express News
• GEO News
• Indus News
• KTN News
• Khyber News
• NewsOne
• Roshni TV
• Samaa TV
• Sun Biz
• Waqt TV
• Channel 5

Religion

• Arrahman-Arraheem
• Haq TV
• Labbaik TV
• QTV
• Islam Channel
• Noor TV
• Satti TV

Shopping

• ARY Digital

Sports

• GEO Super
• TEN Sports Pakistan

Regional Channels

Pashto

• AVT Khyber
• Khyber News

Punjabi

• APNA TV
• Punjab TV
• Ravi TV
• Waaj TV
• SANJH TV

Seraiki

• Waseb TV
• Kook TV
• Rohi TV

Sindhi

• KTN
• Sindh TV
• Sindh TV News
• Ajrak TV
• Dharti TV
• Mehran TV
• KTN News
• Kashish Music

Future

• Value Tv - Pakistan Real Esate Channel ( The News is Xclusive to PAKMIX Group on Yahoo )
• PTV Sports - Part of the PTV Network that will cover domestic and international sport coverage
• PTV Panjnad - Punjabi language Channel (Punjab)
• PTV Mehran - Sindhi language Channel (Sindh)
• PTV Abaseen - Pushto language channel (Northwest Frontier Province)
• Azad TV - Launching in December 2006
• Delta TV - 24 Hour Non Stop Entertainment Channel
• Delta Music - 24 Hour Music Channel
• Healthline TV
• Indus World - Providing high quality Indus progamming for viewers in Europe, Middle East, Far-East and North America
• Jeewan TV - Saraiki language channel
• Music One - Launching in December 2008
• Siraiki Plus - Saraiki language channel
• AVT Khyber Beats - Pashto language music channel
• Sahar TV - Pashto language entertainment channel
• Al Jazeera Urdu
• A Plus
• Circle News
• Coastal News
• Dharti Television Network
• DM Digital Music
• DM NewsPlus
• DM Sarhad
• Duniya TV
• Geo English
• Geo Kids
• Gwadar TV
• MetroONE
• MusicONE
• Taqat TV
• Today5
• VH1 Pakistan - ARY Digital Network
• ViewLine
• Geo Sindhi
• Eye TV
• EYE Vision
• EYE Candy
• RANI TV - Media Next
• Next TV - Media Next
• Pogo Pakistan
• SANJHA TV
• Eue Would