Popular media

Television

Traditionally, the government-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) has been the dominant media player in Pakistan. The PTV channels are controlled by the government and oppositional views are not given much time. However, the past decade has seen emergence of several private TV channels (news, entertainment) such as GEO TV, AAJ TV, ARY Digital, dunya TVIndus Vision, HUM, MTV Pakistan and others. Traditionally the bulk of TV shows have been plays or soap operas, some of them critically acclaimed. Various American, European, Asian TV channels and movies are available to a majority of the population via Cable TV.

Radio

After independence, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) was the sole radio channel in Pakistan during 1947. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation was formed on 14 August 1947 when Pakistan became independent. It was a direct descendant of the Indian Broadcasting Company which later became All India Radio. At independence Pakistan possessed three radio stations at Dhaka, Lahore andPeshawar. A major programme of expansion saw new stations opened at Karachi and Rawalpindi in 1948, and a new broadcasting house at Karachi in 1950. This was followed by new radio stations atHyderabad (1951), Quetta (1956), a second station at Rawalpindi (1960) and a receiving centre at Peshawar (1960). During the 1980s and 1990s the corporation expanded its network to many cities and towns of Pakistan to provide greater service to the local people. Today, there are over a hundred radio stations due to more liberal media regulations.

Cinema

An indigenous movie industry exists in Pakistan, and is known as "Lollywood" as it is based in Lahore, producing over forty feature-length films a year. In contrast, Indian movies are popular in Pakistan despite a ban since the Pakistan-India War in 1965. However, due to the massive film piracy industry in Pakistan, Indian Bollywood films and American Hollywood films have made it to Pakistani movie shelves and home videos for over thirty years. The Lollywood industry used to produce many Urdu films however as Lahore became the headquarters of the film industry, slowly the number of Urdu films decreased with the same rate of Punjabi language rising.

The film industry suffered badly during the rule of the military dictator Gen. Zia, who forced women to cover their heads even on government controlled Pakistan TV. The number of films produced per year also declined due to several other factors including the wide spread use of VCR and DVD players since even most patriotic Pakistanis like to watch Indian movies over their own. Today, Lollywood has totally collapsed and once busy film producing studios have been turned into more profitable business ventures. Most of cinema houses too have been turned into commercial business plazas.

Pakistan also has another film industry based in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province that produced Pashto language films. As demand for films has increased, Karachi has its own version of film festivals, which includes the Kara Film Festivals where many film producers, actors and film staff get together to celebrate achievements in the industry. Under the fear of Taliban and religious extremists, the film industry in Peshawar has come to a standstill today. The Northwestern province of Pakistan has its own culture which is very restricted and even in good old days the buses will turn off entertainment programs upon entering into this province.