MAG ENTERTAINMENT (PVT.) LTD. vs INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS CORPORATION (PVT — 2018 SCMR 1807 SUPREME-COURT

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

MAG ENTERTAINMENT (PVT.) LTD. VS INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS CORPORATION (PVT.) LTD. 1992 SCMR 710, 1998 SCMR 2381, 1999 SCMR 563, 2001 SCMR 914, 2015 SCMR 1303, PLD 1976 Lah. 834, PLD 1999 SC 504, PLD 2016 SC 692, Ss. 2(hb), 23(2) & 39(e)---Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Rules, 2009, Rr. 13(3) & 13(4)---PEMRA (Eligibility Criteria and Bidding Procedure for Direct to Home Distribution Service Licensing) Regulations 2016, Regln. 2.11---Rules 13(3) & 13(4) of the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Rules, 2009, vires of---Direct to Home ("DTH") licences---Broadcasters barred from holding a distribution licence---Exclusion of broadcasters from the bidding process for DTH licences---Legality---Section 23(2) of the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 enjoined upon Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority ("PEMRA") a duty to prevent monopolies in the field of broadcasting and distribution---prevention of monopolies was therefore necessary as meaningful choice was only possible in the presence of genuine competition---Vertical and horizontal integration in the field would both tend to restrict choice---Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority ("PEMRA") was of the view that vertical integration, which would come about as a result of the broadcasters being allowed to also hold distribution licences, would be detrimental to the public interest in that it would stifle choice which PEMRA was mandated to encourage, therefore, to exclude such vertical integration PEMRA framed R. 13(4) of the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Rules, 2009, whereby a broadcaster was barred from also holding a distribution licence---Broadcasters' Fundamental Rights were not violated due to R. 13(4) as Art. 18 of the Constitution allowed for the regulation of businesses---Such regulation may be in the form of licences which carried certain conditions to protect the public interest---In the present matter, the public interest was best served by ensuring that the "media market" was one where genuine competition prevailed---Purported violation of the broadcasters' Fundamental Right to compete for and acquire a distribution licence in addition to its broadcasting licence(s) could not be used against the broader public interest of genuine healthy competition and the resultant choice---Appeals were allowed accordingly and the impugned judgment of the High Court, whereby Rr. 13(3) & 13(4) of the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Rules, 2009 were declared ultra vires the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, was set aside---Rules 13(1) & 13(4) of the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Rules, 2009 were not ultra vires the Pakistan electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002.

MAG ENTERTAINMENT (PVT.) LTD. vs INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS CORPORATION (PVT — 2018 SCMR 1807 SUPREME-COURT

Case information

Judgment text as reported