Info Ministry starts action against illegal TV channels

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has started activities to stop the illegal broadcasting of domestic and foreign TV channels and the conduct of unlicensed commercial activities. The information was revealed in a press release of the Ministry of Information on Monday (May 6).

The press release said, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting took ten decisions in this regard in a meeting held with the Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology in the meeting room of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat on April 2.

A letter has been sent to the concerned stakeholders on Thursday (May 2) to implement the decisions. In view of that, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has started activities to stop illegal display of domestic and foreign TV channels and unlicensed commercial activities.

The decisions are-

1. Only service providers approved under the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006 can distribute the domestic and foreign channels approved by the government to the subscribers.

2. Foreign channels or any unauthorized channels may not be downlinked, broadcast, transmitted or distributed except Cleanfeed.

3. Set-top boxes cannot be illegally imported and marketed.

4. It is completely illegal to promote the use of apps for streaming TV channels or to install and sell such apps on set-top-boxes. BTRC should take legal action against this.

5. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology will take necessary steps in accordance with existing laws and regulations against any illegal activities in the interest of Bangladesh's security, in the interest of increasing government revenue collection, to prevent money laundering abroad and to preserve the country's art, literature, culture and values. .

6. According to 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 channels approved by the government on prescribed application form. Apart from this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has given instructions regarding cleanfeed broadcasting of foreign TV channel programs, so no person or organization can broadcast or perform foreign TV channel programs without cleanfeed.

7. According to Section 3(2) of Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006, no distributor or service provider shall market, transmit and broadcast any of its own programs viz., video, VCD, DVD or any other channel in Bangladesh except through 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 in violation of the law.

8. As per Section 4(1) of the Cable Television Network Management Act, 2006, no person shall operate as a distributor or service provider without being licensed. Therefore, no person or organization other than the licensed distributor or service provider shall operate or broadcast the TV channel or programme.

9. Authorized distributors shall notify their foreign TV channel broadcasters in writing of these decisions.

10) Legal action will be taken against persons or organizations involved in illegal, illegal or unauthorized broadcasting activities.