The Pakistan government has suspended the licence it recently granted to Rupert Murdoch's Asian satellite platform Star TV, claiming that the company had fixed tariffs without its approval.

The licence enabled Star to distribute decoders and market its network to cable operators across Pakistan.

"They have been directed to get their tariff approved as per licence conditions," said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Star has been ordered to stop selling decoders until its tariff receives official clearance under the PTA's cable TV legislation.

Star was the first company to win a licence for decoder distribution in Pakistan (ScreenDaily, November 10). Pakistani cable operators criticised its tariff, claiming that the network only charges four rupees per Indian subscriber for each programme, while in Pakistan it had introduced a package of eight channels for Rs87 ($1.86).