High Court puts freeze on govt order to install TV set-top box by Nov 30

The High Court has paused for one month a government order requiring the installation of digital set-top boxes with all TVs to stream satellite channels in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 Nov 2021, 06:24 PM
Updated : 22 Nov 2021, 06:24 PM

In a notice issued on Nov 4, the government warned that customers would not be able to watch satellite TV channels without a set-top box after Nov 30, leaving cable operators with an uphill struggle to supply and set up the boxes in such a short time.

Mohamad Shahed Kawser, a resident of Khilgaon in the capital, subsequently filed a writ petition challenging the notice issued by the information and broadcasting ministry.

After an initial hearing, the panel of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah on Monday passed the stay order.

The court also asked why the notice should not be declared illegal, said Deputy Attorney General Nawroz Md Russell Chowdhury.

Set-top boxes are not widely available in Bangladesh, which brings the boxes mainly from China. The cable operators set up the boxes at the customers’ homes, or a subscriber can purchase one directly.

In Bangladesh, the channels are broadcast in an analogue system with a fuzzy output. The set-top box, a device connected to a TV, works as a decoder that makes the picture clearer.

About 60 channels are available in the analogue system, but the set-top box increases the number to nearly 250. Customers also have the option to choose certain channels to watch.

A set-top box receives the signal through the cable from the operator and then sends it to the TV after decoding it through another cable.

Subscribers in neighbouring India and many other countries use set-top boxes. With about 20 million customers, the number of users of the set-top box is very low in Bangladesh.

Picture clarity is the biggest benefit of a set-top box.

This system will also help the operators and the government keep count of the number of subscribers, meaning operators’ profit and the government’s revenue will increase, officials said.