The members of Coab pay quarterly fees for the pay-channels in advance. Most of the Coab members have paid Nationwide Communication Ltd, the distributor of Star channels for July-September period, and their next payment is due this month.

"We are not sure who is the authorised distributor of the nine pay-channels of Star Group. We cannot pay any distributor without government's approval as this may be an act of money laundering," said Parvez Anwar, president of Coab.

The row over distributorship started on July 1 this year when MGH Infocom Ltd (MIL) declared that they are the new distributor of Star Group in Bangladesh.

"Star Group has appointed MGH as the new distributor and they have terminated the contract with Asiatic Securities Investment Ltd of Singapore," said Abdur Rahim of MIL.

Asiatic Securities appointed Nationwide Communications Ltd (NCL) as the distributor in Bangladesh in 1997. NCL officials claimed they have an agreement with Star Group, which will remain valid until 2006.

Following an appeal, a Dhaka court put an injunction on information ministry and Bangladesh Television against granting licence to a new distributor of Star Group.

"We are the authorised distributor of Star Group since 1997 and we have an agreement until 2006. We have nothing to say against MGH but we filed the case to protect our right," said Asfar Khair Mithu of Nationwide Communications.

Mithu said the government should have clear rules and regulations to protect the local cable operators and distributors who are doing business with government permission.

MIL arranged a press conference in Dhaka on July 24 to claim their rights as the distributor of Star Group. "We have shown the press the documents of our distributorship. And Chandra Shekhar Sethy, vice president of Star Group from India was present at the press conference," said Abdur Rahim.

He said MGH has applied for licence from BTV and no-objection from information ministry. "We hope to get no objection from the ministry soon."

Information Secretary AMM Nasiruddin said the government has nothing to do with deciding the distributorship, as this is a private business. "We are verifying the documents of both the parties at this moment."

According to NCL, 256 cable operators in the country has about 1,75,000 subscribers. "Some operators are exploiting the situation and not paying us, but so far they are showing Star channels," Mithu said. "We will claim our fees for it."

Coab President Parvez said they pay Tk 12 crore every year as pay-channel fees and 32.25 percent VAT (value-added tax) and supplementary duty. He alleged the distributors raise channel rates arbitrarily without government permission.

"The government should take immediate action to solve the problem of Star channels otherwise this may jeopardise the satellite cable market of the country," he said.

Star Group is currently showing nine pay channels -- Star Movies, Star Plus, National Geography, Star World, Star Gold, Adventure 1, History, Star News and Channel (V).