They also urged the NCL to come to dialogue table in order to solve the present unstable situation in the satellite television channels.

They threatened to take legal action against the NCL if it does not switch on the channels by the Eid-ul-fitr.

SM Anwar Parvez, president of Coab, the major cable TV operators' association in Bangladesh, in a written statement said the NCL had long been doing a monopoly business of satellite pay channels in Bangladesh and since July, 2004 MGH Group has become the distributor of the pay channels of Star TV Network in Bangladesh.

"We have told our associates which control most of the areas of the country to quit pay channels distributed by the NCL, as it has created the crisis only to regain its monopoly business. Still we want a solution to the problem through dialogue."

Answering to a question Coab president said "Since we started cable TV business we are making payments regularly to the NCL, but in the name of dues, the distributor switched off some channels of our associate operators".

He added that the NCL has not given us any payment documents or value added tax (VAT) certificates."

He also said some so-called cable operator associations like Bangladesh Cable TV Owners Association (Cinoa), Dhaka Cable Operators and United Cable Service Forum (UCS) are trying to make a division by creating different associations, which is totally illegal in the country's trade law.

"We will also take action against those so called cable associations," said Parvez.

The cable television viewers in the city are deprived of watching a number of popular channels due to dispute between the pay-channel distributors. Since October 14, the viewers in most parts of Dhaka cannot watch the pay channels of Star TV Network, distributed by MGH Group, while in other areas, they are missing the pay channels distributed by NCL --Sony, Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Alpha Bangla, Discovery, AXN, Star Sports, Ten Sports and ESPN.