BTV transmission in India begins

Bangladesh Television (BTV), the state-owned TV channel, has started airing its programmes in India by using Bangabandhu 1, the country’s first communication satellite.

Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud inaugurated airing the BTV programmes on Monday afternoon at BTV’s Rampura office.

State Minister for Information Dr Murad Hasan and Indian High Commissioner (IHC) to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das attended the opening event as special guests while information secretary Abdul Malek chaired the function.

Initially, the viewers would be able to watch BTV World service programmes in India.

Earlier, a working agreement was signed on May 7 to this end when the information and broadcasting minister of India approved the deal on June 19.

French manufacturer Thales Alenia Space launched the BS 1 on May 12 from Florida of America at a cost of Taka 2,765 crore.

Located at the 119.1 east geostationary slot, BS-1 would cover the SAARC countries and Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkestan and a part of Kazakhstan.

The coverage is the strongest in Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, for which these six countries have initially been chosen for business.

Source: dailysun