Television in Bangladesh

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Television is one of the most popular forms of media and information in Bangladesh.^[1] 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,^[2] with cable television dominating the pay television market there.^[3] This is a tremendous increase compared to the data from 1975, when less than 0.2% of Bangladeshi households had a television set.^[4]

Bangladesh Television currently serves as the sole television broadcaster provided on terrestrial television,^[1] 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.^[5] All television sets in Bangladesh shall be licensed for ownership.^[6] Bangladesh has a total of thirty-nine television channels currently on the air, thirty-five of which are privately owned. Several television channels were even taken off the air. Pirate television stations have also existed in Bangladesh.^[7]