PM opens private TV channels’ commercial transmission using BS-1

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today inaugurated the commercial transmission of all local private television channels using the feed of country’s first communication satellite Bangabandhu-I (BS-I) as she addressed a function on the occasion at a city hotel.

With its inauguration, the country’s broadcast industry is going to enter a new era as the BS-I will save a huge amount of foreign currency to be paid by local TVs as rent.

Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud spoke on the occasion as the special guest with Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar in the chair.

Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Division Ashoke Kumar Biswas and Chairman of the Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO), a platform of private television channel owners, Anjan Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.

BCSCL Chairman Dr. Shahjahan Mahmood handed over the agreement, inked with the private television channels for their commercial transmission using the feed of Bangabandhu Sattelite-1, to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Later the premier handed it over to the ATCO chairman.

An audio-video presentation on the multifaceted use of the Bangabandhu Sattelite-1 in various sectors for the country’s overall development was
made.

Officials concerned said local TV channels have been receiving feed from
Apstar 7 and AsiaSat satellites in exchange of US$ 4,000 per Mega Hartz
frequency each month on an average.