Info ministry takes 10 decisions to stop illegal airing of TV channels

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has taken 10 decisions to stop the illegal broadcasting of domestic and foreign TV channels and operation of unlicensed commercial activities on the broadcast media.

The ministry took the decisions at a meeting with the Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Ministry at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry's conference room on 2 April, said an official release on Monday (6 May).

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat chaired the meeting.

The decisions are: only service providers permitted under the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006 can transmit domestic and foreign channels approved by the government to the subscribers.

Foreign channels or any unauthorised channel cannot be downlinked, broadcast, transmitted or distributed without clean feed.

Set-top boxes cannot be imported and marketed illegally.

It is completely illegal to carry out campaigns inspiring the use of apps for streaming TV channels or selling such apps by installing in set-top-boxes. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) should take legal action against this illegal act.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and ICT will take necessary steps in accordance with the existing laws and regulations against any illegal activity for Bangladesh's security and increasing government revenue collection, preventing money laundering and preserving the country's art, literature, culture and values.

According to the Section 3(1) of the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006, no distributor or service provider shall downlink, market, transmit or broadcast any channel in Bangladesh other than the channels approved by the government on the basis of designated application form. Furthermore, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued instructions regarding clean feed broadcasting of foreign TV channels programmes, so no person or organisation could broadcast or transmit foreign TV channel programmes without clean feed.

According to the Section 3(2) of the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006, no distributor or service provider can market, transmit or broadcast any channel in Bangladesh through their own programmes like video, VCD, DVD or any other means except the government approved channels. No person or institution shall broadcast or transmit the feed of a domestic or foreign TV channel or any channel of its own violating the law.

As per the Section 4(1) of the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006, no person shall operate activities as a distributor or service provider without holding license. Therefore, no person or organisation except license holding distributors or service providers can operate or broadcast TV channels or programmes.

Authorised distributors should inform their foreign TV channel broadcasters about the decisions in written form.

Legal action will be taken against persons or organisations involved in unlawful, illegal or unauthorised broadcasting.