The telecast of the fourth New Zealand-Pakistan T20I was halted briefly today (January 19) on Pakistan’s PTV Sports after a poster of Imran Khan carried by a fan at the ground was displayed.

What happened?

During the seventh over of New Zealand’s innings, a fan carrying a poster of Imran Khan with the message “A legend of the legends” was displayed on TV in between deliveries. PTV Sports, the government-owned sports channel, immediately cut off for a break, usually unexpected in a cricket game where ads are shown after the end of an over.

Anyone knows why PTV suddenly stopped suddenly streaming of the cricket match when they realised Imran Khan’s poster was being shown? pic.twitter.com/jvGIrxisNl

— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 19, 2024

The coverage was halted for around seven seconds with the channel displaying their logo instead of the match in this period. Action resumed when Mohammad Wasim Jr was in the middle of his run-up, ready to bowl the fourth ball of the over to Glenn Phillips.

Recently, PTV Sports also discontinued airing the Australia-Pakistan Test series due to the placement of advertisements for surrogate betting companies at the MCG.

What caused the halt?

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued a de facto ban on the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, preventing Imran from being mentioned on TV. A series of directives issued by PEMRA banned broadcasts of his speeches because he was promoting hate speech against the government and the army.

Last May, following Imran’s arrest due to corruption charges, PEMRA banned mentioning any individual who promoted hate speech on air. Though Imran was not named officially, Pakistan channels have refrained from giving airtime to him since.

In December 2023, the media was banned from reporting about his closed-door trial proceedings as well.

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