Geo TV

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GEO TV

Type	cable television network
Branding	GEO TV
Country	Pakistan
Availability	Pakistan, Canada, USA, Europe, Middle East
Owner	Mir Shakil ur Rehman
Key people	Imran Aslam, President GEO Television Network
Launch date	October 1, 2002
Website	http://www.geo.tv

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Geo TV or GEO Television is an Urdu Pakistani television network that was established in May 2002 and officially began transmission in October 2002.^[1] Its broadcast facilities are based at Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates and its uplink teleport station is Samacom, the monopoly uplink provider in the UAE. Mir Khalil ur Rehman was the founder of the Jang Group of newspapers and his younger son Mir Shakil ur Rehman is the present owner. Imran Aslam is the current head of GEO.

Its programming includes interactive infotainment programs, children's programs, top-of-the-hour news broadcasts daily, and current event programs. GEO TV and GEO News have been rated by Gallup and quoted by Business Week as being the most watched television channel in Pakistan.^[2]^[3]

1 Origin of the GEO name
2 Popular programs
3 Criticism
4 Attack on Geo News Office
5 Geo Super
6 Awards
7 Corporate logos and slogans
8 Geo TV Network
9 Photo Gallery
10 References
11 See also
12 External links

[edit] Origin of the GEO name

GEO's name may come from the fact that it utilizes a geosynchronous orbit satellite for its transmissions. However, in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, the word "Geo" also means "Live On".

[edit] Popular programs

The comedy of Geo TV is well known. One of the most popular program is the comedy show "Hum sub Umeed say hain".

GEO News shows include Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath hosted by Kamran Khan, Capital Talk which is anchored by Hamid Mir, Jawab Deh hosted by Iftikhar Ahmed, and Meray Mutabiq by leading intellectual Dr. Shahid Masood.

Many entertainment programs are also shown on GEO. Most prominent amongst these are half-hour soap opera shows which are called dramas in Pakistan.

Geo took advantage of the large pool of journalists working in the print media field in Pakistan at the time of its formation. When branching out from mainstream print media to electronic media, GEO was able to select from an experienced group of correspondents all over the country.

[edit] Criticism

Critics of Geo believe that many of their correspondents seem to lack media ethics. Examples of this criticism came largely after the December 2005 earthquakes in Pakistan when the GEO news showed overly-dramatic footage of damage caused by the earthquake. Family members of the earthquake victims believed that such footage showed a lack of respect for those people who perished in the disaster.

[edit] Attack on Geo News Office

On Friday, March 16th 2007, armed policemen illegally entered into Geo TV Office in Islamabad, and assaulted Geo TV's bureau chief Hamid Mir. Police demanded that the transmission of demonstrators in the capital of Islamabad be halted. The demonstrations were regarding the second hearing on the case of the chief justice of Pakistan, justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.^[4]

[edit] Geo Super

Main article: GEO Super

In late September 2006, after the success of Geo TV, Geo launched the first ever 24 hour sports channel of Pakistan: Geo Super. It is not yet available overseas but has received high ratings from viewers in Pakistan. Geo Super shows a wide variety of sports from around the world, focusing mainly on cricket, with a secondary focus on boxing, football and field hockey.

[edit] Awards

A documentary by GEO covering water scarcity in the Indus river delta won "The Special Prize of H.S.H. Prince Rainier III" at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.^[5]
GEO was awarded a special award in 2005 at the Nouticaslo TV festival.^[6]
On April 20, 2004 at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, Mir Ibrahim Rahman, chief executive of Geo TV, received an International Broadcast Excellence Award for the impact the channel has had on Pakistan.

[edit] Corporate logos and slogans

The following is the mission statement by GEO TV:^[7].

"GEO will be the voice of freedom from the Asian subcontinent. It will highlight the issues of concern and the cultural richness of its people through information, discussion and entertainment. GEO will propagate transparency of responsibility that will ensure its position as the most credible and meaningful source of information, through quality programming based on issues."

[edit] Geo TV Network

Geo is growing in popularity very rapidly among news viewers in Pakistan and abroad. As a result from 2003 its number of channels has increased from one to four. They are as follows: