BOL launch before year-end
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 11 October 2016
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BOL News Television aims for a relaunch before the year's end after significant layoffs and operational challenges. The channel is reconnecting with former staff and addressing overdue salaries.Summary
ISLAMABAD – BOL News Television, brought down roughly by the authorities, is now dusting itself off and looking for a formal launch before the year ends.
A JournalismPakistan.com source says the managers have begun to re-connect with staff that had to part ways after the channel ran into problems in May 2015.
“We initially had about 2300 staff and that number was down to 1300 when the operations came to a halt in September 2015,” the source said.
The phase-wise rejoining has started but the only problem right now is that many of the employees are working elsewhere and will need time to rejoin BOL.
Our source says the employees will be paid five-month outstanding salaries along with interest. “Those coming back will heave a sigh of relief because our salaries are much higher than what they are being paid by their current employers.”
The BOL Group was aiming to become Pakistan’s biggest media house but a New York Times story that claimed one of their companies was engaged in selling fake degrees, put things off track.
However, now after an ordeal of about 15 months that saw the group’s boss Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh remain in jail, the channel is quickly getting back on its feet.
This, some observers now point out is again bad news for BOL’s competitors who it is widely believed conspired against the group in connivance with the government that prevented the channel going on air in 2015.
KEY POINTS:
- BOL News aims to launch by the end of the year.
- Many former employees are being contacted to return after layoffs.
- Overdue salaries will be paid to returning staff.
- Challenges included a previous scandal and operational halts.
- BOL's relaunch poses competitive concerns for rival media outlets.
