The government will determine the order of cable TV channels based on the time of their first airing dates.

This means the first TV channel to have come on air will be in the top slot, the second oldest will take the next spot and so on.

The decision was taken at a meeting with the owners of the cable TV stations at the secretariat on Wednesday, two ministers told the press, BDNews reports.

Currently, the cable TV operators arbitrarily determine the channel line-ups.

Foreign channels are often being placed before the local ones in the existing order, said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

“Besides, some local channels are placed before established ones. This is not right. We will fix the line-ups,” he said.

A total of 43 private TV channels have government approval and 24 of them are on air. The licences of two channels have been suspended.

State-run BTV has been put on number one slot for about a year following a government order.

Tofail said, “The information ministry will decide on the order of the TV channels as per their first airing dates and inform the commerce ministry accordingly. We will then direct the cable TV operators to follow it.”

“They will have to comply,” the minister said, warning that the licenses of cable TV operators will be cancelled otherwise.

Echoing him, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said, “The Bangladeshi channels should get priority. They should come first in the line-ups. Sadly, the cable TV operators do not follow this.”