Agents of the distributors said they will not resume the service until the government withdraws its order prohibiting downlink of some popular pay channels without its permission.

Identifying the distributors as unscrupulous ones, the Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (Coab) said they had been downloading the pay channels without government permission.

According to reports from various parts of Dhaka, the agitating cable operators snapped off all the foreign channels yesterday afternoon.

In some areas, they broadcast a notice that transmission of the channels was stopped due to government order.

The government on July 24 issued an order not to downlink ESPN, Star Sports, TEN Sports, Set Max, Zee Classic, Zee Action, Zee Trendz, Zee Premier, VH1, Zoom, HBO, Star One, Disney and others.

Mir Hossain Akhtar, president of Bangladesh Satellite Cable Network Owners Association (SCNOA), told The Daily Star that they stopped airing the foreign channels at 5:00pm yesterday.

"We've received the government notice this morning," he said, adding that they are however continuing transmission of the Bangladeshi channels.

Asked why they got the other foreign channels besides the 13 off air, he said the government notice also ordered to stop downlink of 'other' channels.

Coab President Anwar Parvez said, "The government ordered not to downlink the 13 channels and the ones for which the distributors do not have permission.”

Asked why they have been running the channels without government permission, SCNOA president said as far as he was concerned there was permission for all pay channels.

He alleged that the government did not consult the cable operators before issuing the order.

"Why should the government discuss with them? They were running the business evading a huge remittance. They did not receive permission from the government and were siphoning off a large amount of money from the country this way," said Anwar Parvez.

On stoppage of such popular channels, he said, "People are still able to watch the major games on DD Sports, ARI, Real Madrid, Sports 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8."

Saying that apart from the 26 channels for which the government has issued permission, some distributors were downlinking other pay channels including the 13, Coab Secretary General Nizam Uddin Masud submitted an application to the information minister on May 24, asking for measures to stop marketing of the channels.

Acting on the application, Senior Assistant Secretary of the information ministry Mostafa Kamal issued the order on July 24 to stop downlink of the 13 channels and others for which there is no government permission.

The government had earlier stopped transmission of some foreign channels citing difference in cultural contexts as the reason.

Besides, the two groups of cable network operators had kept the service suspended following a conflict between them.

Sources said such situation arises usually during renewal of dealership of the cable operators and the distributors.