PTV earned no profit in last three years, Senate told

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 4 October 2016

The Senate revealed that Pakistan Television has not earned profit for three years due to pension costs. Minister Pervaiz Rasheed outlined government steps to address this issue.

Summary

ISLAMABAD - The Senate was told Tuesday that Pakistan Television (PTV) has not earned any profit in the last three years mainly because of pension benefits of the retiring staff.

“The main reason for not earning profit is actuarial valuation (pension plan) entries which are incorporated on the recommendation of Statuary Auditors and Board of Director,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed (pictured) said during the question hour. “These entries relate to retiring staff pension benefits.”

He was replying to a question by Senator Talha Mehmood of JUIF who asked about the profit PTV earned in the last three years and the steps taken by the government to improve the financial health of the state broadcaster.

An actuarial valuation is a mathematical analysis of the financial condition of a pension plan.

The minister said the government is taking steps to improve the financial position of PTV, which include enhancing in-house productions, special Ramadan transmission, reduction in TV fee commission from Rs5 to Rs1 per month, and change in marketing strategy to enhance revenue from PTV Multan, PTV Global, PTV News and PTV World.