Hasan slams cable operators for suspending foreign channels

Information Minister Hasan Mahmud has slammed cable operators in the country for suspending operations of 17 ad-free foreign channels

“Seventeen TV channels, including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Animal Planet have clean feeds in Bangladesh but the cable operators have stopped the operation, and that will be considered as a violation of the condition of their license. So, those who’re violating the rules will be held accountable,” he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday. Besides, he also said that many cable operators in the country were involved with ‘downlink’ piracy using foreign satellites, which is also illegal.

On the call by Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) to rage a movement after October 4, the minister said, “Talking about such movement is illogical. I hope no one will be involved in any kind of activity that goes against the country’s interests, and the government won’t bow down to any pressure.”

“We didn’t stop airing the programmes any channel and did not ask anyone to do so either. The sky of Bangladesh is open and anybody can broadcast programmes through their channels as per the country’s law. According to the law, the foreign channels’ programmes can be aired without ads, and many countries follow the law,” Mahmud said.

“We had given them enough time as we started talking about it two years ago and we took initiatives to implement the law earlier. If they want, they can sit with us but the main focus will be on compliance,” he added.

Mobile court drives to stop the transmission of foreign channels’ programmes without clean feed will continue, he added.