The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The transmission of CSB News, the country’s first round-the-clock private news channel, was shut down yesterday evening, as Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered the Focus Multimedia Company to close down the operation on grounds of going on air without valid clearance.

A journalist of CSB News told The New Nation that a group of officers of BTRC went to the private satellite television news network head office at Utara in the capital in the evening with orders for immediate suspension of broadcast

They handed over a show-cause notice asking the CSB authorities to give a satisfactory reply within seven days as to how it got the no-objection certificate for allocation of frequency from the Ministry of

Information to air its 24-hour newscast

The BTRC officials asked them to “switch off” telecasting its programme. The CSB authorities, in compliance with the orders, stopped the transmission at 6:34pm.

'Suspension of transmission will remain effective for seven days, a director of the Focus Multimedia Limited, said.

“BTRC officials told us to reply to the notice within seven days. CSB will remain off the air for this period," he said.

He also quoted a BTRC official as saying that it would be decided, based on an explanation from CSB, if the station would be switched off permanently.

The CSB, first of its kind airing round-the-clock news in the country, formally went on air on March 26 this year.