Buying influence

In the latest turn in the Chakri real estate saga, the people behind Blue World City have acquired a television channel. But why?

A few months ago, a new current affairs television channel hit Pakistan’s airwaves. By all estimations this wasn’t a big deal. Pakistan’s media is a bloated, ungainly, over-saturated behemoth running simply on its own inertia. New news channels being launched and old ones shutting down is an everyday occurrence. 

What is often interesting, however, is who the owners of these channels are. Just take a look at the case of Suno TV, the brand new channel in question. Suno’s launch was accompanied by a significant marketing campaign. A drive around Lahore would show that the channel had spent a pretty penny on plastering their logo on any billboard and street light available. Among their roster they boasted a number of well-known analysts, journalists, and TV talking-heads that are household names. 

What was more interesting was the channel’s initial test run. Before going live on air, channels air stock footage on loop to test the running efficiency of their broadcast. In this phase, the stock footage Suno TV was running were ads for Blue World City — a real estate development project in Chakri on the outskirts of Islamabad.

 

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Abdullah Niazi
Abdullah Niazi
Abdullah Niazi is senior editor at Profit. He can be reached at [email protected]

7 COMMENTS

  1. Illegal housing societies is the biggest business in Pakistan. From Pakistan Army to Malik Riaz, everyone is milking the cow and making billions from real estate. The only people who are suffering are the common folks who invest in land in the hopes of getting rich and get scammed. #dhavalley #blueworldcity #leparisgujranwala #dhakarachi

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