The Cable Television Network Law Implementation Committee (CTNLIC) formed last month has already submitted a draft policy, but the ministry has asked for further details to make the proposed laws even more clear.

"We have submitted a draft of the laws and regulations in the form of Cable TV Network Policy of Bangladesh and are now preparing an extensive report for easier comprehension. We hope to submit it by this week," said a high official of information ministry.

The satellite cable television operators and local satellite television stations have long been asking for a guideline on satellite television network.

"A similar guideline was made in 2001, and was supposed to be effective from July 1, 2001, but it was never implemented," said Anwar Parvez, president of Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (Coab).

But the committee members feel the need for a change in the guidelines to adapt to the changed circumstances.

"The situation has changed since 2001, and law, regulations and policies have also been altered. So a new version of the cable TV network guideline is required," said an information ministry high official.

The cable operators are concerned about the price they pay to get channels from distributors.

"We want the government to fix the rates for pay channels like in India," said Parvez.

"The distributors are raising the rate for pay channels at will and forcing us to air the free channels which are flooding our market with foreign advertisements," said a cable operator.

Local satellite television stations also have their own reasons to be cosncerned, as Indian operators exclude Bangladeshi channels from their network.

"We show Indian pay and free-to-air channels, but they are barring our channels in Kolkata," said a marketing manager of a satellite station.

"Our channels mainly target Bangla speaking viewers, but Kolkata does not permit it," said another high official of the satellite television station.

But the government cannot take up the issue with the Indian government in the absence of any policy guidelines.

The local satellite channels are also worried about multinational advertisement loss.

"Already multinational companies have cut back on their ad spend in Bangladesh, as their advertisements of their products are frequently shown on Indian channels," said the marketing manager of a satellite television.

In the 2001 cable TV network policy guideline, the advertisement policy said that no ad could be screened through any satellite channel without the government's permission.

When contacted about the guideline, Information Minister Shamsul Islam said, "Things are still under process, so I cannot make any comments. It will be known in due time.”