A platform of the private television channels Media Unity Thursday demanded hiking the cost of download link of a foreign channel to Tk 5 crore from Tk 1.5 lakh and banning Bangladeshi advertisements in Indian television channels.

They say, Bangladeshi advertisements worth Tk 400 crore a year have gone to foreign channels. Their payments are mostly made illegally.  

Besides the Unity also extended support to another demand to ban dubbed serial on television.

Putting aside the issue of illegal financial transaction by advertisers, the demands of the Media Unity raise some questions in the public mind.

Firstly, why would local advertisers turn to foreign television channels to show advertisements in Bangladesh -- especially when we have such a thriving number of local channels? Why would local advertisers shoulder the guilt of illegally paying foreign channels for advertisement?

Secondly, why are the local channels suddenly concerned about advertisers going abroad when they are already saturated with so much advertisements that audience do not watch them. If these foreign going advertisements come back to local channels -- would there be anything for the channels to show to the audience other than the advertisements?

Thirdly, why would anyone on earth demand banning of a dubbed foreign serial? The BTV had dubbed many serials in the past and everyone appreciated. When is localising a foreign content wrong? Would anyone demand banning of a translated foreign book? No. That is so wrong.

Actually, all of these three questions have one root cause: the poor quality of content aired by the local television channels.

When did we last watch a local TV series or other programmes that is so compelling that we would make time to watch them? The private channels used to air good shows even a decade back. Then people stopped watching them—because watching local tv for entertainment actually meant watching random advertisements. Besides, it seemed that good contents were no longer being sponsored properly.

As per an international practice, a television channel may air up to 14 minutes of advertisements per hour without irritating the audience. But in Bangladesh, the practice is airing advertisements ranging 15 to 22 minutes per hour. This can exceed half of an hour if they are airing special programmes.

The mere fact that the bulk of local audience has turned to Indian Bangla channels is not a result of any foreign conspiracy -- but because the local channels are not airing anything interesting for them.  

It is completely unethical for anyone to demand banning of dubbed shows like Sultan Suleiman. It is the choice of the audience to see which programme they would want to see.

Instead of demanding a ban on this and that, Bangladeshi channels may try to find out why people watch Sultan Suleiman and Kironmala and make engaging good shows like "Bohubrihi" or "Jodi Kichhu Mone Na Koren".  

If the channels produced good shows, people would want to pay premium to watch them. The Media Unity can be a great platform of change, if they hammer on the right issue. Its high time they reinvent themselves by serving the audience first -- instead of just looking at the advertisement revenue by enforcing some ban.