Abb Takk News
AbbTakk TV is Urdu-language 24/7 news and current affairs channel. The group which owns the channel also runs three other channels – Punjabi-language 24/7 news and current affairs APNA and two music channels – 8XM and Jalwa. The channel is seen as “copying” Indian TV channel ‘AajTakk’ down to its logo and most graphic designs. AbbTakk seeks a content policy course that steers clear of confronting the state or its powerful institutions such as the military and the judiciary.
Audience Share
3%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
International
Content Type
Free to air
Media Companies / Groups
Apna TV Channel Private Limited
Ownership Structure
APNA TV Channel (Private) Limited operates AbbTakk TV channel. Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah and Syed Fahad Ali are the only Shareholders with 50% shares each. They come from the same family.
Voting Rights
In case of an equality of votes whether on a show of hands or on a poll the chairman of the meeting, at which the show of hands takes place, or at which the poll is demanded, shall have and exercise and second or casting vote.
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2013
Affiliated Interests Founder
founded Apna TV channel, there is little information is available about him. He joined a non-media related family business after his studies and went on to establish ‘the first computer ribbon manufacturing unit in Pakistan’. He launched the Apna TV Channel (Pvt) Ltd company in April 2004.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
is the CEO of Apna TV Channel. See above for more.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
the principal manager of Apna TV on the content side as director news and responsible for implementing editorial policy of the channel. He did his Master’s in mass communication in 1991 in Karachi and has extensive experience in both print and TV journalism. He started his career in print media but switched to TV journalism soon after Pakistan liberalized its airways for the first time in 2002, which triggered the establishment of TV channels.
Mehmood’s career in TV journalism started with the role of a news anchor with Indus TV. Then he moved to the state-owned Pakistan Television where he worked for around five years in news and current affairs section. He also worked in Express News and Aaj News channels before joining Abb Takk channel in 2011 where he was elevated to Director News position. He is among founding members who worked together to launch the channel.
Mehmood has no shares in the company’s business. He is a professional journalist focusing on editorial management. According to his colleagues, he is a dedicated journalist.
Affiliated Interests other important people
represents the second generation of his family in the media business. He is the nephew of Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah. Fahad also manages sister Apna TV channel, which is the leading Punjabi language TV channel in the country. Punjabi is the largest spoken indigenous language in Pakistan with over 90 million native speakers.
Contact
APNA TV Building,
Plot 22, Sector 14, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi
Tel.: +92-(0)21-35123546-8
Website: abbtakk.tv/en/
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
USD 8.94 Million / PKR 932 Million (2015-16)
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
USD 0.079 Million / PKR 6.82 Million (2015-16)
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
An information request was sent to the outlet on 15 January 2019 through a courier company as well as by email. However, the outlet did not respond. A reminder was also dispatched through a courier company on 01 February 2019 and also emailed on 04 February 2019. No response to date. A right-to-know (RTI) request was filed with the Sindh Information Department on 14 February 2019 to seek volume of advertisement the Sindh provincial government may have released to the outlet during financial year 2017-18. The Sindh Information department did not respond to the RTI request MOM Pakistan team filed within stipulated 15 days. A complaint was lodged with Sindh Information Commissioner against the Sindh Information Department’s non-compliance with RTI law on 5 March 2019. The Information Commissioner also did not respond to the complaint till 06 May 2019. On the station’s website, the“About Us” button does not work. The telephone number given on its website does not work either. However, information about the company which runs the station is publicly available and it was obtained from Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Financial information provided has been obtained from a report the company submitted to the SECP for the financial year that started on July 2010 and ended on June 30, 2011. Audience data was provided by Gallup for the year 2018.
Interview was conducted with Shahab Mehmood on 25 February 2019 via phone.
