Dhaka, Nov 10 After the Cable Operators Association of Bangladesh (COAB) president Anwar Parvez directed the cable operators across the country to taken Star Group television channels distributed by Jadoo Vision Ltd denying to pay the dues, Jadoo Vision Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kunal Deshmukh said they are attempting to forcefully collect all the bills from cable operators under the banner of 'One Alliance', which is illegal.
Jadoo Vision is an IP based technological group in Bangladesh which provides 285 channels with digital connections.
Deshmukh told , "As a distributor we have to pay to the television company. We are in a legal business and have always been keen to settle any issues. We are always open to negotiate with willing operators regarding the payment of the bills."
Parvez and his associates are making various excuses to avoid paying dues, he added.
He said timely billing is a must to keep the business afloat and business policy right, which they have been repeatedly violating. "Despite the fact that Jadoo Vision has not increased the subscription charges, they are trying to mislead the general cable operators of the country by spreading rumours about it," he added.
'One Alliance' operator's are 17 cable operators who now are IndiaCast (Colors, MTV, NiC channels) distributors. Jadoo Vision has given up the distribution of Indiacast on August 31, 2020.
Addressing the Information Ministry of Bangladesh, Kunal said the government-sponsored universal subscription agreement between the cable operators and the distributors can help the cable operators run the business without any hassle while the government will not be deprived of its revenue and the dishonest traders will no longer be able to confuse the cable operators.
During a press conference on Sunday, Parvez had threatened Deshmukh to leave Bangladesh else he'll take action against him under Foreign Act of Bangladesh.
Replying to the threat of Parvez, Deshmukhya said, "Destruction is very easy; creation is very difficult. We will continue to contribute to the society, which is more difficult than their work to destroy all, as they do their work. He can do anything he wants but the reality is that the Bangladesh government has provided me visa. I have been in Bangladesh since January 2018 as a legal foreigner with valid visa and as the CEO of the company I'm doing my professional duty."
Kunal said that one of the cable operators has not paid from last 10 months while Parvez himself stopped paying since June and CMCL, a Chattagram cable operator, has not paid from last five months and Rajshahi based Skyline cable operator pirated the pay channels and has been fined for 50,000 Taka by the mobile court on October 22.
"Coordination Committee" of COAB led by Syed Mosharraf Ali Chanchal and other former leaders disowned Parvez on Sunday in a press conference.
Taking to social media, Abul Hasnat Sohail said that there are a total of 30 million cable TV subscribers in Bangladesh and a monthly bill of minimum 200 to 600 Taka is collected by the cable operators but the government gets only 25 crore Taka as the total revenue.
Chanchal said, there are currently over 600 legal cable traders in Bangladesh. Among them, a small number of cable operators have identified themselves as COAB Unity Council and brought up some unwanted issues at different times.
Chanchal added, we believe in solving problems through dialogue. If we failed to solve this crisis, the clients will be dependent on Sky (DTH) and IP TV.
Most of the cable operators were asked not to boycott the channels considering the interests of the customers, he said.
( With inputs from IANS )
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