World / Nepal cable TV operators ban Indian news channels except Doordarshan

Nepal's cable TV operators on Thursday stopped the transmission of Indian news channels, except Doordarshan, although there is no official order, ANI reported. "We have halted distribution of India's private news channels as they have aired news reports hurting Nepal's national sentiment," Dinesh Subedi, the chairman of Multi-System Operator (MSO), foreign channel distributor, said.

ANI : Jul 10, 2020, 08:28 AM
Kathmandu: Nepal's Cable television providers have said that signals for Indian news channels, except Doordarshan, have been switched off in the country. There is, however, no official order issued in this regard.

"We have turned off the signals of the Indian Channels from this evening," Dhruba Sharma of Mega Max TV, a Channel operator of Nepal confirmed to ANI.

The move by Nepal's Multi-System Operators (MSO) comes hours after former Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesperson of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that the Indian media must stop the "baseless propaganda" against Nepal government and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Shrestha expressed his disbelief on the extent to which some media channels have gone to defame the current government.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between India and Nepal after Kathmandu issued a new map incorporating some portions of Indian territories in May.