Legal notice served to resume broadcasting of foreign channels

A legal notice has been served on the information ministry and the cable operators association of Bangladesh (COAB) to take necessary steps within seven days for the restart of the broadcasting of all foreign channels in Bangladesh. 

Khundkar Hasan Shahriyar, a Supreme Court lawyer, on Sunday sent the notice saying that if the demand is not fulfilled within the time he would take legal actions, including filing a writ petition, against the respondents.

The lawyer also said in the notice, "If the foreign channels are asked to implement ad-free (clean feed) broadcasting then the authorities will have to maintain the same policy in case of the domestic TV channels."

 “It was a hasty decision to stop broadcasting without any discussion with foreign channels on how to continue broadcasting in Bangladesh with a clean feed. As a result, millions of people in Bangladesh are being deprived of the opportunity to watch foreign channels even with the required fee,” also read the notice.

Stopping the broadcasting of the foreign channels has reduced the scope of people's entertainment which is contrary to the Constitution, read the notice, adding that the standard of the programs of the domestic TV channels is very low.

According to the existing Bangladeshi law, foreign channels cannot broadcast advertising. As per the law, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting recently issued an instruction saying that foreign channels with advertisements will not be allowed to broadcast in Bangladesh from October 1.

Starting midnight, 12:00 am October 1, viewers browsing foreign channels on their TV screens saw a message informing them that as per a government directive, no foreign channels with advertisements can be broadcast.

Therefore, cable TV operators had to refrain from broadcasting foreign channels until further instructions, according to the message. Cable operators all across the country are showing similar messages to their subscribers.

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