Betting advertisments removed from Pakistan broadcast of Melbourne Test

Pakistan will have an advertisement-free feed of the ongoing Test series in Australia. The broadcast pictures provided to the Pakistani market until now had incorporated a gambling sponsor superposed over into the coverage, and had to let the Pakistan state broadcaster, PTV not live streaming the opening day of the Boxing Day Test. Ten Sports, which also holds the rights to air the series between the Shaheens and the Kangaroos, continued to broadcast the match. 

However, Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued a notification on December 26 prohibiting the “broadcast/distribution of advertisement of surrogate companies which are promoting gambling/betting in different sporting events being telecast/broadcast in the country".

That resulted in concerns over the broadcast of the first team at all, though Ten Sports continued the broadcast of the game from the start of the subsequent day with a betting sponsor laid over into the on-field coverage. 

However, it is understood that the feed provided to Pakistan will no longer feature such advertisements that may violate local laws, which basically allows PTV to start showing live pictures from Melbourne as well, even though at the instance of writing, coverage on the state broadcaster has not restarted yet. The clean feed is expected to start very soon. 

A statement issued by the PTV yesterday stated that they had pulled coverage adhering to the government’s “zero tolerance policy” for surrogate advertising and "had taken up the issue with the relevant broadcaster", avering the "series will be telecast live once the matter is resolved".

The series opener was broadcasted on both the PTV platforms and all private broadcasters without any interruption.