Stop downlink of illegal foreign TV channels
Media Unity urges
Media Unity yesterday announced a 6-point charter of demands, including closure of downlinks of illegal foreign TV channels in Bangladesh, stopping broadcast of dubbed foreign serials in local channels and imposing a ban on advertisements in foreign channels.
The Unity, a platform of 16 organisations of private television channel owners, artistes, directors, dramatists, journalists and other media people, at a programme at Dhaka Club, also set a November 30 deadline for the government and others concerned to meet their demands. They would hold a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital on that day, otherwise. Their other demands include provision for the downlink of original foreign channels in Bangladesh for Tk 5 crore at a time and Tk 2.5 crore renewal fee per year, and stopping of money laundering in the name of broadcasting advertisements in foreign TV channels. The Unity leaders said some unapproved foreign channels are being downlinked in Bangladesh in the name of Indian TV channels. But these channels are not broadcast in India and not even approved there.
The purpose of these channels is to gobble up the advertisement money of Bangladesh, they said, adding that the advertisement money is going to foreign countries taking permission of Bangladesh Bank.
Several crores of taka has already been laundered in this way in the last one year, the platform leaders claimed.
The leaders also claimed that a large sum of money is being siphoned off though illegal hundi and it is almost 10 times higher the amount sent legally.
The local advertisement market is being shrunk for giving these advertisements to foreign channels. Besides, the rate of advertisement is lower in local channels and hence viewers get irritated to see more ads on local television channels.
Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of ATN Bangla and ATN News and also adviser to the Media Unity, held one particular TV channel responsible for illegal downlink and advertisement business. He urged the owner of that TV channel to move away from such unscrupulous path.
He also urged artistes and co-workers to stand by the Unity movement, and said, If you do not stay with us, your programmes would not be broadcast in 26 channels, except the one in question.
Salman F Rahman, private investment affairs adviser to prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and also chairman of Independent Television, said, Its not difficult to address these problems if everyone is united. No one will dare to commit crimes if a policy is framed in this regard, and then illegal acts would be stopped. Among others, Mozammel Haque Babu, convener of Media Unity and managing director of Ekattor TV, Arif Hasan, member secretary of Media Unity and deputy managing director of Desh TV, Morshed Alam, chairman of RTV, Abdul Haque, chairman of Banglavision, Harunur Rashid, chairman of Asian Television, Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and chief executive officer of Ekushey Television, Ahmed Jobayer, managing director of Somoy TV, Aman Ashraf Foyez, managing director of Gazi TV, Muhibul Hasan Chowdhury, managing director of Bijoy TV, Naem Nizam, CEO of Channel-24, media personality Hanif Sanket, Gazi Rakayet, president of the Directors Guild, Nasim, president of Artiste Organisation, actors Zahid Hasan, Shahidul Alam Bachchu and Shahiduzzaman Selim also spoke on the occasion.
