Legal notice served on information ministry to resume foreign TV channels

A legal notice has been served on the information ministry to resume broadcasting foreign TV channels in Bangladesh.
 
Supreme Court Lawyer Khandakar Hasan Shahriar sent the notice on Sunday.
 
SM Shamsur Rahman Shimul, convener of Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) coordination committee, has also been served the notice.
 
It was deemed not possible to cut off the advertisements from the programmes being aired on foreign channels. Therefore, upon an information ministry directive, operators stopped broadcasting foreign TV channels since 1 October.
 
The information ministry and COAB took the decision without any discussion on how to continue broadcasting foreign channels in Bangladesh without clean feed. 

Crores of people in Bangladesh are being deprived of the opportunity to watch the channels, even after they paid the required fee, resulting in a lack of entertainment, which is a clear violation of the constitution and human rights, the notice reads.
 
Consequently, the information ministry and COAB have been requested to resume broadcasting foreign TV channels within seven days of receiving the legal notice.
 
According to the existing Bangladeshi law, foreign channels cannot broadcast advertising.This had previously led to several attempts made by the government to shut down foreign channel broadcasts. 

Having shut down foreign cable channel broadcasts altogether, cable operators now intend to sit with the channel broadcasters on the matter.