NTV (Bangladeshi TV Channel)

NTV (), styled in lower case as ntv, an acronym of less commonly used National Television, is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel based in the BSEC Building in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka. It was launched on 2 July 2003, and is one of Bangladesh's most popular television channels. NTV is owned by International Television Channel Limited, with Mosaddek Ali Falu, a businessman and former vice president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, being the channel's chairman.

History

Initiation and launch

NTV was originally licensed to Sajjat Ali on 19 September 1999. The channel was originally licensed as "Ten TV" prior to its acquisition by Mosaddek Ali on 10 January 2003. Exactly a month later, on 10 February 2003, NTV was announced to set operations in April of that year, as Bangladesh's previous and first privately owned television channel, Ekushey Television was shut down in 2002. It had also announced a partnership with CNN.

The channel was also set to be receivable in the entirety of Bangladesh, as well as the rest of Asia and Australia, and parts of Africa and Europe. Ahead of launch, it had become the first Bangladeshi channel to use real-time graphics per an agreement signed with Beehive Systems to provide the isle'wiz software.

However, its official broadcasts started on 3 July 2003. Prior to this, it initiated test transmissions for a week. The launch night special and the channel's graphics were compared to Ekushey Television by a Daily Star columnist; moreover, the director of the opening ceremony of the channel, Hanif Sanket, had done the same for ETV three years earlier.

Initially broadcasting for eight hours a day, NTV began broadcasting on a full-day basis on 1 January 2004, enabling the channel to start airing more news bulletins. In the same year, Falu bought NTV and pushed its license approval further. NTV had received investment from Soundview Broadcasting owned by Shafqat Chowdhury, a Pakistani-American businessman.

Later years

On 26 February 2007, a massive fire took place at the BSEC building in Karwan Bazar, killing three people and injuring over a hundred. As a result, both NTV and its sister, RTV, temporarily ceased operations and forced the channel to broadcast reruns after resuming broadcasts. They worked with Banglavision to broadcast their news onto NTV since they were unable to do their own.

In September 2011, NTV became the first television channel in Bangladesh to receive an ISO certificate for its contribution to its broadcast management. Mike Bloise handed it to the channel's chairman, Falu. In December 2012, the Intelligence Bureau of India flagged NTV as a "hate channel" allegedly broadcasting anti-India programming. It was one of the twenty-four "illegal" channels to have been flagged.

On 31 October 2014, another fire broke out in the BSEC building at 11:48 in the morning, which once again led to the closure of both NTV and RTV. NTV resumed transmissions later on that day. In 2016, Falu resigned from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party as vice chairman. NTV was one of the nine Bangladeshi television channels to sign an agreement with Bdnews24.com to subscribe to a video-based news agency run by children called ''Prism'' in May 2016. NTV aired the Miss World Bangladesh pageant in 2017. In December 2018, NTV began broadcasting using the Bangabandhu-1 satellite. On 26 February 2019, the second anime series of ''Chibi Maruko-chan'', dubbed in Bengali, premiered on NTV.

NTV commenced official high-definition broadcasts on 21 February 2025, coinciding International Mother Language Day.

Related services

NTV Europe

In August 2006, the United Kingdom-based NTV Europe was launched and targeted the Bangladeshi community throughout Europe on Sky channel 826, but stopped broadcasting a year later. NTV Europe was relaunched on Sky channel 834 in the United Kingdom in August 2008. On 14 April 2012, NTV Europe was replaced by Channel 9 on Sky channel 834. However, NTV Europe started broadcasting on Sky channel 852 sixteen days later., but due to a reshuffle, it moved to channel 838 on 19 August 2014.

On 1 May 2018, as a part of another reshuffle, NTV Europe moved to Sky channel 757 due to the fact that the International genre had started to begin at channel 701. NTV's old slot was used for Lifetime. It was moved again to channel 780 due to Sky's reshuffle of its international section by language in 2019.

Programming

NTV's programming is diverse and consists of news coverage, soap operas, edutainment, religious, and political programs.

Cooking

* '' Siddika Kabir's Recipe''

Drama

* ''Kacher Manush'' (2004)
* '' Ronger Manush'' (2004)
* ''Labonno Prova'' (2006)
* ''Romijer Ayna'' (2006–2007)
* '' 111: A Nelson Number'' (2007–2008)
* ''Aim in Life'' (2008–2009)
* ''Family Crisis'' (2019–2021)
* ''Family Friends'' (2022)
* '' Fnf'' (2010)
* '' Golpogulo Amader'' (2017–2018)
* '' House Full'' (2008–2009)
* ''Joint Family''
* '' Kache Ashar Golpo'' (Season 1; 2011)
* ''Maya Mosnod''
* ''Mehoman'' (2021–present)
* '' Porer Meye'' (2020–2021)
* ''Shohorali'' (2019–2020)

Reality

* '' CloseUp1'' (2005–2012)

Talk shows

* ''Joyitar Joyjatra''
* ''Ki Kotha Tahar Sathe''
* ''Muktangon''
* ''Shomporko''

Quiz shows

* ''Fame and Fortune''
* ''Shomoshomoy''

Acquired programming

Animated

* ''Chibi Maruko-chan''

Drama

* '' Kuruluş: Osman''
* '' Marumo no Okite''

See also

* List of television stations in Bangladesh

References

External links

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NTV Europe

{{Bengali-language television channels

Television channels and stations established in 2003
Television channels in Bangladesh