Asian TV (Bengali: এশিয়ান টিভি) is a Bangladeshi Bengali language satellite and cable television channel owned by the Asian Group of Industries. It began broadcasts on 18 January 2013, with the "Your Channel" slogan.[1] It broadcasts a selection of general entertainment programming.
History
Asian TV was formed by businessman Harun-ur-Rashid, as part of his Asian Group of Industries, which also includes Asian Radio, Asian Textile, Asian Fabrics, and Asian Yarn Dyeing.[2] The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission granted the channel a license to broadcast in June 2011.[3][4] The logo of Asian TV was unveiled in an event at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka on 20 June 2012. The event began with the theme song of Asian TV "Elo Praner Protichchhobi" sang by Runa Laila.[5][6]
It was launched on 18 January 2013, after months of test transmissions.[1]Asian Radio, its radio sister, also began broadcasting the same day.[7] However, the radio station was later shut down.[8] As a result of massive vandalism against eight television channels occurred on 5 August 2024 during anti-government protests in Bangladesh, Asian TV was one of the channels to go off the air temporarily.[9]
Programming
Shortly before its launch, management announced that the station's programming would include "plays, reality shows, musical programmes, talk shows, cartoons etc."[1] It started broadcasting the Bengali dub of Japanese anime series Doraemon in April 2014.[10] On the occasion of the month of Ramadan, Asian TV was one of the eight television channels to broadcast the cooking series Pran Premium Ghee Star Cook in July 2014.[11]Afsan Chowdhury, advisory editor for the Dhaka Courier, described the channel as politically independent, and wrote that it "markets low end entertainment products".[12]
