As the aim was not to roll out a run of the mill channel but a channel with a slogan of “Pride of the Proud”, it became a record hit even during the test transmission phase. Due to this immense popularity, this channel moved on to regular transmission within a record short period of time and on to 24 hours transmission within seven months of its launch. The popularity of this Channel is not restri
cted to only the Pukhtuns of Pakistan but also of Afghanistan, Middle East, Australia and the Far East where it has captured viewers in more than 90% Pukhtun households. Within this short span of its history, AVT Khyber, with its main studios at Islamabad, has opened its centers with studio facilities in Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi and Dubai. It has its marketing offices located in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Dubai. It has its news reporters located in
all District Headquarters of NWFP, Pukhtun Districts of Balochistan, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and entire Tribal Belt of NWFP including Wana and South Waziristan. It has its Bureau Offices/Stingers in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar Sharif and Dubai. To man these offices and centers, it has a work force of over 200 young and educated male and female workers who are working day and night to make it a success. AVT Khyber has a very talented team of programmers who produce more than 90% of the programs in-house. It is a complete family channel with over 60 fresh programs including more than 30 hours of live shows produced every week ranging in duration from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Only few entertainment dramas are outsourced to market producers, which also is by design to encourage Pukhtun artists in the private sector. AVT Khyber also had the distinction of devising a system of feed back for improving its contents and programs on a continuous basis. Through a scientifically planned system of web sites and e-mails, we encourage our viewers to contact us on daily basis giving their impressions and suggestions on fresh programs. In addition, we also take live calls from viewers in which they are encouraged to critically analyze our contents, our methods of presentations and styles of our various anchors/presenters. We hold daily de-briefing and continuously incorporate changes in the light of such useful comments and suggestions. This system has made the channel interactive as well as provided a sense of ownership to our viewers. Our achievement is that our viewers now call AVT Khyber as “Our Channel” and we refer to it as “Your Channel”.
