Owner of Public News, Abdul Jabbar, fails to fulfil financial obligations

United Producers Associations (UPA) is the sole representative body that represents the commercial interests of Pakistan’s independent television, film, digital and other media professionals.

With over 160 members all over the country and having more than 25,000 staff and 25+ trades directly or indirectly, UPA is an association that supports its members with their legal and business affairs and also works on a wide range of services and campaign work. Pakistan’s producers have always been a backbone and a strong support system for the Pakistan Television Industry.

However, Baaghi TV has learnt that currently the UPA affiliated producers are facing a horrific situation  because of the outstanding of media houses and in particular due to an evasive attitude by the owner of one specific media outlet.

Chaudhry Abdul Jabbar, owner of Sports Star International, A-Plus TV and Public News has not fulfilled his commitments, which were made several times along with his financial obligations. This has been a grave concern for the UPA members as several meetings over the past three years and persistent reminders have made no difference.

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According to valid sources, Jabbar accumulates around 1.44 billion rupees of annual turnover from multiple Revenue Streams such as “Add Sales, Re-Run, YouTube, OTT Platforms, Drama Exports and Residual Income.”

Although this situation enables him to enjoy the maximum benefits of the association while on the other hand the producers who produce the content after painstaking efforts have to rely only on the payment that is not even paid, despite submitting all rights of content to the channel.

It has been learnt that the Public News owner assured the UPA Chairman to liquidate some assets to start paying off but not a single concrete step has been witnessed ever since. As a result, the association presented an appeal to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, for his prompt consideration to help the unpaid producers in order to avoid a financial collapse. Click here to see the list of the stranded payables of creditors.

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UPA also requested Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to take strict action against the license as per the PEMRA Laws including the suspension of the above mentioned channels, unless the settlement of all arrears in the given time period.

UPA is overwhelmingly optimistic that the government will take notice and ensure fair trade practices that will definitely relieve the ongoing suffering of their producers.

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