Another amendment expands the PEMRA Board membership from 9 to 12. This will disturb the existing numerical superiority of 5 private sector representatives over the government's three ex-officio members and one chairman in the nine-member Authority. This means that the broadcast sector's fate will be decided by officials beholden to the government rather than the broadcasters themselves. Under the law, the Authority's decisions are taken by majority principle. The new 12 members will comprise the Central Board of Revenue chairman as ex-officio member and two members to be appointed by the government resulting in the imbalance of 5 private sector members to 6 government appointees besides a government appointed chairman.

The amendments while lifting the ban on cross media ownership also retains the present obligation of the Authority “to ensure that, as far as possible, open and fair competition is facilitated in the operation of more than one channel” and that “undue concentration of media ownership is not created” in any area or in any subject special category of radio TV channels. The bill, however, deletes only the explanation of the above wherein ownership of newspaper or magazine is cited as an example of the undue media concentration. Therefore, through this amendment, while the newspapers is allowed to own more than one media outlet “undue concentration of media ownership” requires PEMRA to act or give the Authority a reason to act, especially against those who might be accused of the same.

Similarly, the bill empowers PEMRA to prescribe a special mechanism to ensure fair competition untainted by cross media ownership. The amendment bill requires PEMRA to prescribe terms and conditions for those “who own more than one media enterprise” and to define “circumstances constituting undue concentration of media ownership and abuse of powers and anticompetitive practices by media companies.” The phrase “abuse of powers” here has far reaching consequences with PEMRA fully empowered to define it in the rules that it will make.

The amendment bill also defines a “newspaper” which according to the amendment is one which the federal government notifies in the official gazette. The definition has been imported from the Press Council Ordinance 2002. However this is an additional requirement wherein only those journals are considered as newspapers qualifying for TV licenses which the government notifies. Indeed not all newspapers will get this privilege like the declaration which any one can get.