Television is one of the most popular forms of media and information in Bangladesh. It was one of the first countries in South Asia to introduce television on 25 December 1964, in the then East Pakistan under the state-owned television network Pakistan Television Corporation in its capital, Dhaka. After the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, the Dhaka television station of PTV was renamed to Bangladesh Television, which had a monopoly on the country's television industry until 1997, with the launch of ATN Bangla on satellite television. Since then, the number of privately owned television channels saw a tremendous rise in the Bangladeshi television market. As of 2019, 64% of households in Bangladesh had a television set, with cable television dominating the pay television market there. This is a tremendous increase compared to the data from 1975, when less than 0.2% of Bangladeshi households had a television set. Bangladesh Television currently serves as the sole television broadcaster provided on terrestrial television, as Ekushey Television, formerly provided on terrestrial from its launch in 2000, was shut down two years later, although it did resume broadcasting later but on satellite television. All television sets in Bangladesh are to be licensed for ownership. Bangladesh has a total of forty-one television channels currently on the air, thirty-seven of which are privately owned. Several television channels were even taken off the air. Pirate television stations have also existed in Bangladesh.
History
Early ages
Television programming in the then East Pakistan was first commenced in 1964, when Pakistan Television established a television station in Dacca, the first after Lahore, and broadcast from the DIT Bhaban on a four-hour basis. On 4 March 1971, PTV's Dacca television station was unofficially renamed "Dhaka Television", and on 23 March, it began showing the flag of Bangladesh and playing the national anthem of Bangladesh and several pro-Bangladesh songs, as a part of the station to join the struggle for independence from Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, the station was immediately renamed Bangladesh Television, subsequently becoming a government-owned entity. In 1975, Bangladesh Television moved its studios and facilities in a newly built headquarters in Rampura. Bangladesh Television had established fourteen relay terrestrial television stations up to 2003, the first one being in Natore in 1974, which cover up to more than 90% of Bangladesh's territory. Bangladesh Television was the first television station in the region of South Asia to commence full-time color broadcasts on 16 December 1980, as inaugurated by president Ziaur Rahman, followed by Pakistan Television and India's Doordarshan in 1982. As Bangladesh Television was the only television channel available in the country at the time, its viewership and popularity soared.
Rise of satellite television Satellite television was introduced in Bangladesh in 1992, with over ten foreign channels having a presence in the country at the time. Simultaneously, the first cable company (Translinks), affiliated to Star TV, opened in the same year. The first Bengali-language satellite television channel based in Bangladesh, ATN Bangla, was launched in 1997, followed by Channel i in 1999. Satellite television saw a tremendous increase in popularity among Bangladeshis at that period, and thus, Bangladesh Television began to stagnate.
As a privately owned terrestrial television network in Bangladesh did not exist at the time, A.S. Mahmud, along with the UK-based Simon Dring, had plans to establish Ekushey Television in the late 1990s. It was officially launched on 14 April 2000, and quickly gained widespread popularity around Bangladesh. However, the channel was forced to cease all transmissions in 2002, shortly after the BNP government took over, leaving BTV the sole Bangladeshi television network to broadcast on terrestrial television today, even though Ekushey Television did resume broadcasting but on satellite television in 2007. During Ekushey Television's closure, Bangladesh saw a significant increase in privately owned television channels. NTV was the first among them to be launched in 2003, followed by RTV and Boishakhi Television in 2005, and Channel 1 and Banglavision in 2006. However, several television channels were short-lived and were shut down by the government, such as ATV, TEN and Sonar Bangla. Later in 2007, the caretaker government ordered several channels to shut down as they were accused of broadcasting illegally without a no-objection certificate or permission. The channels were STV-US, Channel S from the United Kingdom, Ruposhi Bangla (not to be confused with the unrelated Indian channel of the same name), Falgun Music, TV-5, Bijoy TV, and My TV, although the latter two would return to the air. In 2009, Jamuna Television began test transmissions and was later shut down by the BTRC for broadcasting after its license had already expired, though it would later return to the air in 2014.
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