Representatives of 7 closed cable TV news channels met West Tripura DM and demanded to restart the channels

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, January 25, 2023

A delegation on behalf of 7-8 TV news channels that cut cable connection in Agartala today, January 25, met the District Magistrate of West Tripura district Mr. Debapriya Bardhan. The representatives of the closed cable TV channels have simultaneously demanded to resume the closed TV channels.

A memorandum has also been given to the DM demanding necessary action to restore the cable connection and resume broadcasting of these news channels immediately.

Notably, the District Magistrate is legally empowered to control cable TV channels. District Magistrate assured the delegation to take appropriate action soon.

Incidentally, after the arrival of the new government in the state in March 2018, from April 2018 with the help of a vicious circle, the cable connections of popular TV news channels stopped broadcast unilaterally without notice, without giving any reason. Especially, those channels that have tried to broadcast objective news without being blindly supported by the ruling party, this outrage continues to fall on them. At different times at various levels, the attention of the administration was drawn to this matter, but there was no result.

Among the TV news channels that have been disconnected are: Sandan TV, Channel Dinrat, Aakash Tripura, PB24, Mrinalini ENN, Halla Bowl, Awaaz etc. The representatives said that viewers and subscribers of these channels across the state have been deprived of their constitutional rights by depriving them of the opportunity to get news and information through their favorite channels.

Tripura assembly elections ahead. At this time, free and fair elections are bound to be questioned by depriving the viewers and subscribers of these channels. Closed cable Channel representatives told DM that these channels are suffering huge financial loss due to disconnection. It has been demanded to take necessary measures to restore the cable connection of these channels and resume their news and program broadcasting. In this context, the Tripura High Court and the TRAI authorities of the Central Government have asked the District Magistrate to report the complaint. The representatives also informed the District Magistrate about this.

The delegation included: Samir Dhar, Swapan Chakraborty (Channel Dinarat), Abhishek Dey (Sandan TV), Dwijen Sinha (Aakash Tripura), Rajib Dutta (Mrnalini ENN), Prashanta Bhattacharya (Halla Bowl), Debashis Das (Awaaz) and others.