Govt orders 'Channel 16' off the air in Bangladesh

The information ministry has ordered private TV station 'Channel 16' off the air in Bangladesh, a year after its permission for test run expired.

Reportedly owned by Insight Telecast Company Limited, the channel aired programmes from abroad through a downlink.

However, government permission to telecast ended on Nov 30 last year and was not renewed, the information ministry order issued on Tuesday said.

The order has been sent to home ministry and the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), among others.

It requested the authorities to take "effective steps" to stop the channel’s telecast.

The government had given Insight Telecast's Executive Director Golam Muhith conditional permission for a test-run in Bangladesh through a satellite downlink in November 2011.

It opened an office in Dhaka and had since been airing music-based programmes via a foreign satellite from Singapore.

As per the conditions, it can only air programmes in Bangladesh that have been telecast abroad via the downlink and cannot uplink any programme from here.

It also cannot apply for permission to send money abroad or import equipment.

However, media reports claim the channel had been telecasting programmes made in Bangladesh and advertisements with the help of another satellite even a year after its licence expired.

An organisation of Bangladesh's private channel owners moved the information ministry in July to stop the channel’s telecast.

But 'Channel 16' kept operating after obtaining a stay order from the High Court.

Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju told bdnews24.com that a High Court bench resolved the channel's plea last Thursday, paving way for pulling it off the air.

A Dhaka court is trying Insight Telecast's Muhith in a rape case.

Media reports say there are allegations of forging the Dhaka Zilla Parishad Administrator's signature in a letter sent to the ministry and of fraud in the appointment of reporters against Muhith.

When contacted after the ministry's order, his office assistant 'Selim' said Muhith was abroad.

The organisation’s CEO, Robin Siddique, said they were telecasting programmes as part of the test run.

"We have sought its extension (test run) tenure and had filed a plea with the High Court, too.

"But the decision to shut us down came suddenly," he told bdnews24.com.