BTV bereft of audience, proposal for autonomy in cold storage

Bangladesh Television (BTV) aired popular drama series such as ‘Aaj Robibar’ and ‘Kothao Keu Nei’ in the 1990s. Before these, series such as ‘Ayomoy’ and ‘Eisob Dinratri’ garnered huge popularity.

Apart from television series, programmes of different genres like ‘Eso Gaan Shikhi’, ‘Maati O Manush’, ‘Bhora Nodir Baake’ and Meena cartoon enthralled audiences.

A survey conducted on 3000 people in 1990’s shows that 54 per cent of the audience was satisfied with BTV’s programmes. No such surveys are conducted nowadays.

BTV, which has two full-fledged centres and 14 sub-centres across the country, receives enough allocations. BTV’s budget for the current year is over Tk 3.2 billion.

The audiences said BTV has been derided for its coverage. Media experts said BTV’s popularity declined as subsequent governments made it their mouthpiece.

In 1996, a commission was formed for formulation of autonomy policy for Bangladesh Betar (radio) and Bangladesh Television with the aim of restructuring the state media. The following year, the commission issued a report with a number of recommendations, including the autonomy of BTV. The report never came to light. The report has remained in the dark for the past 27 years.

BTV airs nine news bulletins daily. Four of these are 30-minute bulletins in Bangla and English and the remaining are brief bulletins.

An analysis of the 2:00 pm bulletin of BTV for a week during the movement of Students Against Discrimination in July of this year shows that the first 15 minutes are allocated only to the government’s development campaigns. News items of public interest are not included in this important part of the news bulletin.

For the last 12 years all the private television channels of the country had to compulsorily broadcast the news of BTV at 2:00 pm. However, this decision was withdrawn on 18 September.

A former director general of BTV told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity that the state TV channel could never publish news independently without interference from the government. A large portion of journalists of BTV’s newsroom were recruited through political consideration. As a result partisan people had influence from both inside and outside in terms of news and programmes during all the governments.

According to BTV newsroom, there are 45 reporters and 37 presenters and about 200 people involved with the news while people from newsrooms of four private TV channels said around 120 to 130 people work directly with news in each private channel.

An analysis of the list of BTV programmes in the 2022-23 fiscal year published on the website of BTV shows that a total of 91 hours and 48 minutes of “educational” programmes were broadcast on BTV. Programmes on “History, Heritage, Nature and Environment” were aired for 67 hours and 55 minutes and more than 102 hours were dedicated for development programmes.

The picture was almost the same the next year. The development related programmes include laying of foundation stones and inaugurations of government projects by the prime minister and ministers.

The autonomy formulation commission in 1997 stated that there is a lack of proper policy regarding production and dissemination of news and other programmes of Betar and TV.

In news, “protocol value” takes precedence over “news value”. It was learnt that influential quarters pressurise the authorities’ concern to publish their news with importance.

Kamrunnesa Hasan, who went to retirement as deputy director general of BTV in 2009, told Prothom Alo, “Political pressure was always there but the section of artistes depends on the concerned persons of respective programmes. At least this was the way during our time.”

She said BTV’s news had many flaks, but revered singers such as Firoza Begum, Runa Laila and Sabina Yasmin took part in BTV programmes in 1980’s or even back in 1990’s. Later on, the Awami League government blacklisted many artistes as a result of criminalisation of politics. Noted artistes such as Shahnaz Rahmatullah or Niaz Mohammad would not get invited to BTV programmes. As a result, artists lost interest in BTV.

The allegations of producing programmes without proper research and nepotism in selection of performers have only increased in the last 15 years. Moreover, news of various corruptions including misappropriation of honorarium of artistes and enlisting artistes in exchange of money were reported in current year by many news media including Prothom Alo.

According to information from BTV sources, the state-run TV channel’s budget in the current fiscal (2024-25) was over Tk 3.2 billion. The allocation has increased by Tk 90 million compared to the previous year.

Among the two full-fledged centres and 14 sub-centres, BTV's Dhaka centre located in the capital's Rampura is the most important. The centre gets more allocation. In the last financial year, the expenditure of this centre was Tk 1.36 billion. The revenue of this centre was only Tk 1.3 in this centre.

The total income and expenditure of all the centres in the last financial year could not be known. The current general manager of BTV's Dhaka centre, Nurul Azam, has not given any information in the end despite multiple assurances in this regard.

As a state broadcaster, BTV has the opportunity to broadcast World Cup football matches for free; BTV bought the broadcasting rights of the 2022 World Cup for Tk 980 million from a private company called Tama Construction and Company Limited. That was the only instance of buying broadcasting rights of the World Cup and it was done to facilitate the business of Toma Construction.

It is alleged that Awami League’s central organising secretary Mirza Azam is involved with Toma Construction.

Sohrab Hossain was the DG of the BTV at that time.

He told Prothom Alo recently that BTV informed the information and broadcasting ministry about it. However, the ministry said although the BTV is supposed to broadcast the World Cup matches for free, the decision to buy rights from Toma Construction was taken at a meeting of ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council). The then prime minister Sheikh Hasina approved the decision at the ECNEC meeting.

Harun or Rashid was the DG of BTV in 2016-2021. He told Prothom Alo that BTV never had to pay money to air the World Cup. In the 2014 and 2018 editions of the World Cup, BTV got the live feed for free from the media rights licensors and had earned Tk 45 million and Tk 77.5 million respectively. Meanwhile, it earned Tk 35 million in the 2022 edition. Of the income, Tk 25 million was from the government advertisements.

There is no survey as to how many viewers watch BTV. However, a study by the UK-based international market research firm Kantar Group Limited found that in 2021, approximately 11.3 million people in the country would watch BTV at some point. By 2023, this number decreased to 8 million.

There were conversations about the viewing experience of BTV with audiences from different generations and media experts.

Jalowashan Akhtar Khan, a 74-year-old resident of the Bashundhara residential area in the capital, told Prothom Alo, “BTV is like the government’s mouthpiece. I don’t watch it anymore. If it wants to become popular by changing its character, it must focus on broadcasting important news. There needs to be a reflection of all types of opinions on the television screen.”

Anwar Hossain, a 45-year-old employee in a private company, recalled how BTV used to show president Ershad distributing relief in the water during the 1980s. Back then, BTV was called “the mouthpiece of the rich and the famous.”

He mentioned the emergence of “Begum Zia TV” and later, “Awami TV”, which showcased “bumper harvests of the batabi lemon”. Despite these changes, he feels a certain nostalgia for BTV, which he believes the authorities should realise.

However, Istiaq Ahmed, who works in the financial technology sector and is in his thirties, shared that he has not watched BTV since 2006.

He said, “For a long time, I thought, why should I watch? Now, maybe things are slowly changing. BTV needs to increase its own content.”

After the end of HM Ershad's dictatorship in the early 1990s, political parties, including the Awami League and BNP, which had opposed him, reached a consensus on the autonomy of Bangladesh Betar and BTV.

To formulate recommendations regarding autonomy to make these institutions more creative and significant, a commission was established by the then Awami League government in September 1996.

Under the leadership of then secretary Mohammad Asafuddoula, the commission submitted its report on 30 June 1997.

In their report, the commission recommended bringing the state-owned institution under autonomy to make it profitable and people-friendly. The recommendations also included monitoring and evaluating the activities of government and private radio and television stations to ensure proper adherence to national broadcasting policies.

Additionally, the report suggested forming a quality coordination committee to monitor and control the activities of radio and BTV, along with defining its powers and jurisdiction.

At the time the commission submitted its report, the director general of BTV was renowned producer Nawazish Ali Khan.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said that what is currently shown on BTV under the guise of programmes is “cheap entertainment”. BTV has failed to adapt to changing times. Without ensuring the participation of skilled personnel and dedicated artistes, good programmes cannot be produced.

He further stated that while a budget is necessary to operate BTV, a good drama or programme cannot be produced solely with a budget. The standards of production style, script quality, artistes’ skills, and director’s taste all need to meet high standards.

Kamrunnessa Hasan, a former additional director general of BTV, stated that the Asafuddoula commission had advised that BTV be operated as an autonomous institution modelled after the BBC. However, no government has taken that recommendation seriously.

The commission came up for discussion again in 2009, when the High Court, in response to a writ petition, inquired about the activities of the commission. After that, there was no further discussion on the matter.

On 3 September, an interim government meeting was held between chief advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus and editors of various newspapers in the country.

The proposal for the autonomy of BTV, Bangladesh Betar, and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) was raised during the meeting. This brought the report from the commission 27 years ago back into the conversation.

However, professor Fahmidul Haque, a media and film expert residing in the US, believes that granting autonomy could be a means to make BTV successful. But he emphasised that this cannot be just a theoretical arrangement; its practical implementation and transparency must be ensured.

He told Prothom Alo, “Even people in villages now watch YouTube on their mobile phones. Restoring BTV’s old glory is very difficult. However, since it has the budget and other capabilities, those should be utilised. For this, a media commission needs to be formed.”