Local TV channels lose 20pc viewers

It became a habit for Golam Masood, who has been living in Saudi Arabia since the 90s, to tune into Bangladeshi television channels the moment he returned home from work.

But that decade-long habit, which eased his homesickness and also helped his children to learn Bangla, was abruptly disrupted one fine day.

That day was October 2 last year, when all 37 Bangladeshi TV channels began to fully broadcast from Bangabandhu-1, the country’s first satellite, which unfortunately does not have coverage in the Middle East, Australasia, Singapore and Malaysia.

About 20 percent of the local satellite television stations’ viewership came from those markets, which they could reach through their previous transmission arrangement by way of Apstar 7, a Chinese communications satellite that has coverage in almost all parts of the world.

The local channels though had to run out their agreements with APT Satellite, the parent company of Apstar 7, to move to Bangabandhu-1, so they do not have alternative arrangements to reach out to viewers in those regions either.

“We have a big hole in our daily lives now. Though we are very far from home, thanks to the Bangladeshi televisions we never feel that we were out of the country,” said Masood, who runs a grocery store in Riyadh.

And, sadly for expatriates like Masood, none of the Bangladeshi stations are pay television channels yet, so they cannot get them through their direct-to-home operators either.

The episode is representative of the poor planning that went behind the execution of the country’s passion project, which cost the exchequer Tk 2,702 crore.

Zahiruddin Mahmud Mamun, a director of Channel i, one of the popular television stations among the Bangladeshi diaspora, said they have 60 to 70 lakh viewers in the Middle East countries.

“They have now been cast out,” he told The Daily Star last week.

Still, the expatriates have the option to enjoy Channel i’s programmes as well as other TV stations’ through their websites. But not all expatriate Bangladeshis have high-speed data connection at all times.

“And enjoying television programmes on smartphone is not a pleasant experience,” he added.

Salauddin Salim, head of broadcast and IT at Somoy TV, echoed the same as Mamun.

About 10 percent of Bangladeshi TV channels’ viewers are in the Middle East, 5-7 percent in Malaysia and about 2 percent in Australia, he said.

“We also have viewers in the African countries. They are now being deprived of our news and programmes.”

Salim, however, said Somoy TV is reaching their viewers in the US and Canada through a workaround: by way of an internet protocol they are sending their content to another satellite, which is then beaming the programme to the viewers in North America.

Contacted, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said the government did promise the TV channels that an alternative arrangement would be made for them to telecast to those regions.

“I am not sure why that has not been done until now.”

To run a successful satellite business at least three satellites are required, according to Jabbar.

Since Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company (BCSCL) do not have that yet, they had planned to team up with other satellites to reach all parts of the globe.

“As far I know BCSCL was in talks with two satellite companies to cover the regions where most Bangladeshis reside,” he added.

BCSCL Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood said they are in discussions to enable the television owners to run their business in those markets smoothly.

He, however, declined to elaborate further.

“You will get good news soon,” Mahmood added.

Bangabandhu-1 satellite is located at the 119.1 east geostationary slot and it can barely reach Uzbekistan, where there is hardly any presence of Bangladeshis.

It could have easily covered Malaysia and Australia had cost-cutting not dominated the planning.

When the satellite’s design was finalised the entire right side of the atlas was dropped, a move that saved the government Tk 30 to Tk 40 crore, said an official of BCSCL requesting anonymity due to sensitivity of the matter.

Apstar 7 is on the 76.5 east geostationary slot and can reach up to Munich, Germany other than Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

Though the Bangabandhu-1 satellite’s quality is quite good, the broadcasters have to send their content to the ground station in Gazipur first though fibre optic cable -- a system they are not comfortable with.

“The bandwidth quality is not always the same. Besides, we cannot be entirely reliant on fibre optic cable,” said MM Sayem, head of broadcast and IT at Maasranga TV.

Between October 1 and December 23, all the TV channels experienced blackouts of 58 to 62 minutes for technical problems with the fibre cable, according to broadcasters.

“As we cannot show ads during that time advertisers are refusing to pay us for that,” said a broadcaster requesting not to be named.

Some television stations wrote to the BCSCL to inform them of the challenges, but they got no response.

To mitigate the challenges all the television stations are planning to set up their own ground stations, which cost $90,000. Already, Maasranga TV, Somoy TV and Channel 24 have placed orders for the equipment.

Gradually, all the channels will import their own ground station facilities, Salim said.

Ultimately, broadcasting from Bangabandhu-1 is turning out to be the same as Apstar 7 cost wise even though BCSSL is offering lower rates.

Television channels had to pay Tk 22 lakh a year to Apstar 7. For Bangabandhu-1 they are paying Tk 16 lakh for the first year and from second year onwards they will pay Tk 18 lakh annually.

The Daily Star also spoke with two TV channel owners, who upon condition of anonymity said they would have never gotten on board the Bangabandhu-1 were they not compelled to.

They said there are design problems with the Bangabandhu-1 and the chosen technology is not right either.

The authorities never spoke with the private sector experts when the satellite design was locked down and now these challenges have come up, they added.  Bangabandhu-1, which was launched into orbit on May 12, 2018 from Florida, is projected to recoup its cost within eight years of commercial operation, as per project documents.