It's Pakistan ahoy for Star TV. The network was granted the first pay TV licence by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) earlier this week. Following this, Star TV can now distribute its full bouquet of pay TV services to viewers in Pakistan. Hitherto, the channels were being viewed by Pakistani audiences but through illegal decoders which were placed in the country. Star TV will now be able to collect subscription revenues from cable TV operators in Pakistan. Pakistan has close to 8,000 cable operators across 49 cities, servicing over 1.5 million cable TV households in the country.

Even Zee Telefilms is expected to get a pay TV licence in the not too distant future, especially after it has encrypted its channels and has been distributing them as part of a digital bouquet.