To make the broadcast media digital, the digital set top box will be installed in Dhaka and Chittagong from April 1, said the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Hassan Mahmud. “Today we have a discussion with cable TV owners’ representatives on setting a time frame,” he said. Through negotiations, we have given two months of time to the customer, i.e. today is February 1, we have set a target to get digital set top box to all customers by March 31 in Dhaka and Chittagong. From April 1 in Dhaka and Chittagong so that we can give the set top box to everyone, everyone will work towards the goal.
He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with cable TV owners’ representatives in the ministry’s meeting room at noon on Tuesday (February 1).
At this time, the information secretary Md. Maqbool Hossain, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, senior vice-president of Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO), an association of private television owners, were present.
At the end of the meeting, the Information Minister said, ‘We have discussed in detail about the implementation of the initiative we have taken to digitalize the broadcast media. You know, there was a lawsuit. The country is being deprived at the same time as those who are associated with this medium are being deprived due to not being able to digitize. The VAT that the government gets from this sector is not collected properly. This is not less than one and a half to one thousand crore taka a year. That’s why we want to digitize it so that we can provide better service to our customers, so that those who are behind this service get their fair share and the state is not deprived.
“Today we have discussed in detail. As you know, a case was filed in the High Court after this initiative was taken. There was a moratorium on our initiative. We have faced that from the ministry, the order has been suspended. In other words, there is no legal impediment to digitization now.
Dr. Hassan said the same decision would be implemented in all divisional and metropolitan cities by May 30 with two more months to go. From April 1, subscribers in Dhaka and Chittagong who do not pick up or install the set top box will be deprived of watching many channels. The same thing will be effective from June 1 in all divisional and metropolitan cities. Hundreds of thousands of set top boxes have already been brought in the country, which are in stock. We will go step by step. Seeing the progress here, what can be done in the district town will be decided.
The issue of formulating a policy for the entire cable operating system has come up in today’s discussion. We think that a policy needs to be made. In the light of the law, there is talk of forming a policy and advisory committee. We have reached a consensus on this issue. It will be done. We need to take some time. We will formulate a policy by forming a committee to talk to the stakeholders,” added the Information Minister.
In response to a question, the minister said that, all over the world, customer pay for the set top box. We have discussed this issue before, so that it can be offered at an affordable price, in installments. I talked to the Machine Tools Factory so that, they could make a set top box right here. They are taking that initiative.