Television in Pakistan started in 1964, and the first live transmission of Pakistan Television began on November 26, 1964, in Lahore.
Originally a private sector project in 1961 by prominent industrialist Syed Wajjid Ali who signed a joint venture agreement with Nipon Electric Company (NEC), leading Pakistani engineer Ubaidur Rahman was appointed by Wajjid Ali to head the television project. By 1962, after a series of pilot transmission tests, the project was quickly taken over by the Ayub Khan Government in 1963 for the "greater national interest of Pakistan". President Ayub Khan re-appointed Ubaidur Rahman in 1963 under the Ministry of Information to continue with the NEC joint venture collaboration to launch Pakistan Television or PTV. The project began with a tent on the back lot of Radio Pakistan Lahore where a transmission tower and a studio were constructed. On November 26, 1964 the first official television station commenced transmission broadcasts from LAHORE, followed by Dhaka in 1965 (then the capital of East Pakistan). A third centre was established in Rawalpindi-Islamabad in 1965 and the fourth in Karachi in 1966. Later centres in Peshawar and Quetta were established by 1974. Originally broadcast in black and white, PTV began colour transmission in 1976. With this new upgrade in techniques and equipment, the Pakistan Television Academy was founded and opened in 1987 to teach students who wished to work in the medium. As with the other agreement, the government financed most of the funds while the private venture capitalists offered to fund the remainder. Late 1980s morning transmission started on PTV.