Dunya News
Set up in 2008, at a time when military rule was giving way to restoration of democracy in the country, Dunya News is a 24-hour news and current affairs channel that broadcasts in the Urdu language. It is characterized by hourly bulletins, a phalanx of prime time talk-shows that are a staple of Pakistani broadcast landscape, and some popular signature satire shows with current affairs themes. Dunya is one of the few of Pakistan’s dozens of news channels that are based in Lahore and tend to bring a distinct Punjabi emphasis in the talk shows and satire shows that employ Punjabi folk humour to keep audiences engaged. Its popular current affairs talk shows include Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath, Ikhtilafi Note, Nukta-e-Nazar and On the Front while its wildly popular satire shows include Hasb-e-Haal and Mazaaq Raat.
Dunya maintains a centre-right approach to framing its news and current affairs, a policy that Dunya News management says mirrors the majority socio-political views of most Pakistanis, including the heartland of Pakistan’s populous Punjab province that houses over half of the country’s 207 million people. The channel’s owner, Mian Amer Mahmood, brings this centrist-conservative mix from his similarly right-of-centre politics.
Audience Share
3%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
International
Content Type
Free to air
Media Companies / Groups
National Communication Services (SMC)
Ownership Structure
Dunya News is operated by National Communications Services (Pvt) Ltd which is a single-member company, where Mr Mian Amer Mahmood holds all the shares.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2008
Affiliated Interests Founder
is the founder and CEO of Dunya Media Group, which owns both Dunya News, a 24-hour news and current affairs channel that brings coverage from across the country and Lahore News, also a 24-hour TV channel that restricts its news coverage to Pakistan’s second largest city of Lahore with around 10 million population. It was launched in 2016. He has a political and business education background. He served as mayor of Lahore for two consecutive four-year terms from 2001 to 2009. His politics – mostly with the rightwing Jamaat-e-Islami party – goes back to 1987 when he first got elected a city councillor in Lahore. He is, however, best known as the founder and CEO of Punjab Group of Colleges, which established and manages three chartered universities, 330 colleges, 15 schools of Resource Academia chain, over 700 schools of Allied Schools chain and about 300 schools of the EFA Schools chain. The educational institutions are spread in almost 100 cities of Pakistan.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
is the CEO of Dunya Media Group. See above for more
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
is one of the earliest journalists to become the face of TV news talk shows when independent TV channels were allowed for the first time in Pakistan in 2002. At that time, he was working for The News daily of Jang Media Group and often made waves with his investigative reports and exposes of alleged corruption and abuse of office. A series of his news reports was also cited as proof of corruption by the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1990 by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which endorsed the sacking of her government by then president. When Jang Group’s Geo News TV channel was launched his ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath’ late night analysis show became for many years as the most watched news show in Pakistan. He left Geo News and joined new channel Bol News in 2014 as its president but after the channel folded within a year after a massive scandal related to one of its allied companies, Khan joined Dunya News channel in 2015 and now serves as its editor-in-chief. He hosts the most popular news show on Dunya News titled Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath.
Contact
Dunya News, 8A, Abbot Road, Lahore
Tel.: +92-42 111-1-Dunya (38692)
Fax: +92-42-636 2440
Email: info@dunyatv.tv
Website: dunyanews.tv
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
There is little information about ownership hierarchy or revenue and market share about the channel available online. No financial audit documents available with SECP. The company was sent information request on 15.01.2019 through a courier company as well as by email. The company did not respond even after a reminder was couriered on 01.02.2019 and emailed on 04.02.2019 but the information was not forthcoming. The company does not have online presence. Financial information was also not forthcoming as SECP did not have any mandatory statement of annual accounts filed by National Communications Services (SMC-Pvt) Ltd.
