Pakistan suspends Nickelodeon's licence for airing Indian content

Pakistan's electronic media regulator has suspended the licence of US-based Nickelodeon channel for airing cartoons dubbed in Hindi, days after it decided to enforce a complete ban on Indian TV and radio contents amid Indo-Pak tensions. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Monday announced that the licence was suspended over violation of its directives.

"PEMRA has decided to suspend licence of Nickelodeon for showing cartoon dubbed in Hindi. The channel violated the October 19 decision by PEMRA which banned showing Indian contents," it said in a statement.

The authority had announced on October 19 that any satellite channel or those with landing rights would face bans over screening of Indian content, in order to enforce a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels. The statement issued by PEMRA on Monday said that all distribution networks have been informed about the suspension of Nickelodeon channels. The decision will come into effect immediately.

ARY Communications is the channel's landing rights holder in Pakistan. The move is largely seen as a tit-for-tat move after a similar action by some channels and the entertainment industry in India against Pakistani content and artistes. Tensions are also running high between the two countries following the Uri terror attack and India's retaliatory surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC).