The monthly downlink fees of foreign television channels for broadcasting programmes in Bangladesh will be increased to Tk3 lakh from TK1.5 lakh.
Upon approval of the Law Ministry, the Information Ministry will issue gazette notification for increasing the fees.
Information Ministry Joint Secretary Md Abul Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision came last week. Upon implementation of the proposal, the fees would be doubled than the existing amount.
“The government’s plan was to fix the rate up to Tk10 lakh per month. However, later the decision was changed considering the possibility of a rise in subscription fees of cable TV network,” he said.
He said: “At present, the local cable TV network subscription fee is Tk300. Although the downlink fee will be increased, the local subscription fees will not be changed. The cable operators will have to collect fees of previous months at the government fixed rate from the clients.”
Asked about realising extra charges from the clients, Abul Hossain said: “It is true that some of the operators charge the clients extra. We have requested Bangladesh Television, which is responsible for issuing license to the local cable TV operators, to take steps in this regard.”
“Licenses of the cable operators who will charge clients more than the government fixed rate and beam unauthorised foreign channels without paying the government will be cancelled,” he added.
Currently, around 50 foreign TV channels are broadcasting in Bangladesh, most of which do not pay any downlink fee to the government.
These channels include Star Jalsha, Star Plus, Star Gold, Zee Cinema, Sony Pix, Hangama etc.
According to the Information Ministry, only around 20 foreign TV channels are paying the ministry a monthly downlink fee of Tk1.5 lakh. The local cable operators are reportedly involved in the act of tax evasion by the foreign channels. BTV is planning to carry out a special drive against cable TV operators who have been catering channels that are not officially authorised by the government.
Such operators would be penalised both physically and financially, the joint secretary said.
When asked about broadcasting Bangladeshi channels in India, he said: “The government is trying to show the channels there but owners of the channels must come forward as a monetary issue lies there. They have to pay the downlink fees to India and make the local operators of India interested to show the channels.”
