Bangladesh sees increasing tax revenue from broadcasting int’l sports events

Bangladesh has received a significant amount of revenue from some subcontinent-based television channels broadcasting sports events, including IPL, ICC and English Premier League.

According to the TV channels' insiders, Star Sports and Sony Pictures Networks have paid more than Tk10 crore as revenue to the Bangladesh government in the fiscal year 2020-21 and 2021-22.

During FY 2020-21 and 2021-22, the amount of paid revenue was Tk4.40 crore and Tk5.80 crore respectively, showing an increasing trend.

For the broadcasting of the Indian Premier League in Bangladesh during 2020, Star India had to pay more than Tk85 lakh to the government of Bangladesh. In the same way, the government of Bangladesh has received around Tk5 crore as revenue for purpose of broadcasting IPL of 2020, 21 and 22.

It's noted that the government is also gaining revenue from tech giants like Google and Facebook, with the support of the Foreign Exchange department of Bangladesh Bank. Bangladesh has streamlined this tax revenue income from large international broadcast rightsholders and the Bangladeshi TV audience is enjoying uninterrupted live telecast of these events.

There was a large controversy that took place during the Fifa 2018 world cup rights as Bangladesh Bank couldn't confirm how the money has been sent to Fifa or their sublicensee to broadcast the live match in Bangladesh. For the same reason, the last Pakistan tour of Bangladesh was not picked by any broadcasters in Bangladesh as the 3rd party agent wanted to receive the rights fee without the banking channels to avoid tax.

According to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the USA, international broadcasting groups like Star Disney and Sony Pictures must inform their respective countries regarding the amount they receive from other countries for sublicensing the programmes to prevent money laundering. 

However, a large number of Bangladeshi channels or OTT platforms telecast foreign entertainment programmes like Iranian or Turkish TV series but the Bangladesh government is missing major tax revenue.

Md Mojibur Rahman, joint secretary (TV) at the Ministry of Information's broadcasting wing, told TBS that the ministry permits the broadcast of commercial content under some policy bindings.

"The trend of increasing revenues from the international sports broadcasters is the positive outcome of the policies," Mojibur said.