Indian broadcasters are stepping up concerns over what they describe as a structural imbalance in cross-border media rights, even as Bangladeshi sports properties continue to be legally monetised in India while Indian television channels and premium sports content remain inaccessible in Bangladesh.
The issue has resurfaced sharply following Bangladesh’s decision to block the telecast of the Indian Premier League, even as Indian platforms continue to license and distribute the Bangladesh Premier League to domestic viewers.
IPL value drops in 2025. Read e4m report
Rs 250-Rs300 crore in dues, no market access
Beyond access, broadcasters point to significant outstanding dues as another unresolved fault line.
“Bangladeshi broadcasters owe Indian networks anywhere between Rs 250-Rs300 crore in accumulated carriage, content and settlement dues,” said a senior industry executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Despite that, Indian platforms continue to pay fresh licence fees for Bangladeshi sports properties. There is no commercial parity.”
According to industry executives, Indian broadcasters currently earn zero subscription or advertising revenue from Bangladesh due to geo-blocking, while Indian money continues to flow outward through sports rights payments and platform distribution deals.
How the ban evolved
The restriction on Indian channels in Bangladesh is not new. Broadcasters say the clampdown began several years ago, gradually expanding through a mix of regulatory directives, licensing non-renewals and enforcement against cross-border feeds, particularly affecting Indian news and general entertainment channels.
While informal workarounds existed earlier via cable and DPO ecosystems, formal access has steadily tightened, leaving Indian broadcasters largely shut out of the Bangladeshi television market.
The latest escalation came with the IPL blackout.
“It is being requested in these circumstances that all sports and events of the Indian Premier League should be stopped till the next order,” said a notification as per media reports quoting Mohammad Feroze Khan, Assistant Secretary, Bangladesh’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The decision followed a request made two days earlier by Asif Nazrul, sports and youth affairs adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government, seeking a ban on IPL telecasts.
Stress compounds an already fragile TV market
Indian broadcasters argue that the timing of the cross-border blackout could not be worse, coming at a moment when the television industry is already under sustained financial pressure. The sector has been battling muted advertising growth, a steady shift of brand budgets towards digital platforms, escalating sports rights costs, and increasingly fragmented viewership, all of which have weakened the traditional TV revenue model.
These pressures are reflected clearly in advertising data. The Indian television advertising market witnessed sluggish growth in 2024, reaching Rs 34,453 crore, a year-on-year increase of just 5%, the slowest growth rate in the past seven years, according to the Pitch Madison Advertising Report released earlier this year. Broadcasters say such low growth leaves little margin for absorbing external shocks like blocked international markets.
The stress was particularly visible during the peak festive period. According to the report, TV advertising expenditure in the fourth quarter of 2024 declined by 13%, largely due to weak festive season demand, traditionally the strongest quarter for television revenues. Executives note that when even marquee quarters underperform, the loss of incremental cross-border revenues becomes even more damaging.
Another significant blow has been the sharp contraction in the advertiser base itself. The number of advertisers on television dropped by 23% in 2024, falling from 11,127 advertisers in 2023 to 8,653 in 2024. The report attributes this decline largely to advertisers, especially small and mid-sized brands, migrating decisively to digital platforms that offer more targeted and performance-linked outcomes.
This structural shift is also evident in television’s shrinking share of total advertising expenditure. TV remained the largest advertising medium in India until 2021, but from 2022 onwards its dominance has steadily eroded. Its share fell from 34% in 2022 and has declined by roughly one percentage point each year through 2024, underscoring the medium’s gradual loss of pricing power and bargaining leverage.
“When the core business is already slowing, external disruptions like blocked neighbouring markets become disproportionately harmful,” said a senior broadcast executive. “Earlier, international feeds helped offset domestic softness. Today, those cushions no longer exist.”
Broadcasters argue that in such a fragile environment, the absence of subscription and advertising revenue from markets like Bangladesh does not just cap upside, it actively accelerates downside, making recovery harder even if domestic conditions improve.
“TV ad revenues are under pressure across genres,” said another broadcast executive. “When neighbouring markets are shut, broadcasters lose both subscription upside and incremental ad demand. Every blocked market worsens the math.”
Executives add that cross-border sports and news distribution once served as a natural hedge against domestic cyclicality. With those avenues closed, broadcasters are now exposed to sharper volatility.
“There is no revenue from Bangladesh, neither ads nor subscriptions, but costs continue to rise. That inevitably shows up in falling numbers and weaker balance sheets,” one executive said.
India pays, Bangladesh earns
The asymmetry is particularly stark in sports. Platforms such as Tata Play and FanCode legally distribute Bangladeshi cricket to Indian audiences, paying licensing fees and generating platform-level monetisation.
In contrast, Indian broadcasters say they have no corresponding access to Bangladeshi households, despite strong historical demand for Indian news and entertainment content.
“This is not about blocking content,” an executive said. “It’s about reciprocity. If Indian money is funding Bangladeshi sports ecosystems, why is Indian content systematically excluded?”
Not just Bangladesh: Nepal parallels
Broadcasters note that similar issues have surfaced in Nepal, where regulatory and distribution barriers have periodically restricted Indian channel availability, even as cross-border content consumption continues through alternate routes.
“This is becoming a regional pattern,” said a distribution executive. “India remains the paymaster market, but Indian broadcasters don’t get proportional access in return.”
As sports rights inflation collides with shrinking TV revenues and blocked neighbourhood markets, broadcasters say the issue is no longer academic.
“Cross-border media trade cannot function on goodwill alone,” an executive said. “At some point, policy has to acknowledge economic reality.”
That leaves the industry with a blunt question: If Indian broadcasters continue to fund regional sports ecosystems without access, revenue or reciprocity, how long can this one-way media economy realistically survive?