DBC News (), derived from "Dhaka Bangla", is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable news television channel, owned and operated by Dhaka Bangla Media & Communication Ltd. The founder of the channel was

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury (1 April 1949) is a Bangladeshi journalist and the editor of ''The Daily Observer''. He served as the media and information affairs advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for almost 5 years. Early life and education Ch ...

. DBC News is headquartered in the

Mohakhali Mohakhali () is a neighborhood of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh. Mohakhali is one of the busiest places in Dhaka city. Mohakhali is bounded by Banani (neighbourhood), Banani in the north, Tejgaon Industrial Area Thana, Tejgoan area in the ...

neighbourhood of Dhaka.

History

In 2013, the

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) () is an independent commission founded under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001 (Act no. 18 of 2001). The commission is responsible for regulating all matters related ...

granted Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury's Dhaka Bangla Media & Communication a license to broadcast "Dhaka-Bangla Television". It later received its frequency allocation in January 2015. The channel was launched as DBC News on 21 September 2016, beginning with the ten o'clock morning news bulletin. The launch ceremony was attended by then

Commerce Minister A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial poli ...

Tofail Ahmed Tofail Ahmed (; 22 February 1919 – 28 March 2002) was a well-known Bangladeshi researcher of Folk Art. He was also a collector of Folk artifacts and has authored several books on Bangladeshi Folk arts and Crafts. He was awarded the ''Shilu Abe ...

and then

Information Minister An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given t ...

Hasanul Haq Inu Hasanul Haq Inu (born 12 November 1946) is a Bangladeshi politician and the former Minister of Information of Bangladesh. He leads a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and was involved in a Marxist insurgency in the 1970s. Early life and ...

. In December 2019, DBC News, along with three other Bangladeshi television channels, signed an agreement with

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

to air programming regarding children's issues.

Censorship and violence

On 27 October 2017, a motorcade of former Prime Minister

Khaleda Zia Begum Khaleda Zia (born August–September 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second fema ...

was attacked in

Feni District Feni District () is a coastal Districts of Bangladesh, district situated in the south-east of Bangladesh, within Chittagong Division. One of Bangladesh's smallest districts, it is strategically located along the N1 (Bangladesh), Dhaka–Chittago ...

. The news van of DBC and other news organizations were damaged in the attack. DBC News correspondent Partho Hasan was attacked by Shirhan Sharif Tomal, Bangladesh Jubo League leader and son of Land Minister

Shamsur Rahman Sherif Shamsur Rahman Sherif (12 March 1941 – 2 April 2020) was a Bangladesh Awami League politician who served as minister of land. He was a 5-term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Pabna-4 constituency. Early life Sherif was born on 12 Ma ...

, on 29 November 2017. Bangladesh Police closed eight members of the

Detective Branch The Detective Branch (; abbreviated as DB) is a specialized unit of the Bangladesh Police. It mostly deals with investigative activities and special operations in sensitive cases and places. The main task of the detectives of this unit is to colle ...

Barisal Metropolitan Police Barisal Metropolitan Police or BMP was established in 2006 based on Barishal city to serve the metropolis. It was established by an ordinance of ''The Barisal Metropolitan Police Ordinance - 2006''. Saiful Islam is the commissioner of Barisal Me ...

for torturing a cameraman of DBC in Barisal on 12 March 2018. The police team that attacked the journalist were led by sub-inspector Abul Bashar. According to the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

Human Rights Report for 2017 the government of Bangladesh forced DBC news to remove a news item titled “Bangladesh’s Hasina Survives another Attempt on Her Life.” The news was sourced to a Burmese news portal. It was one of the Bangladeshi channels whose YouTube channels were geo-blocked in India on 9 May 2025, citing threat to national security concerns during the

2025 India–Pakistan conflict The 2025 India–Pakistan conflict was a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan that began on 7 May 2025, after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan, in a military campaign codenamed Operation Sindoor. India said that the operat ...

Programming

Rajkahon on DBC News is a primetime political talk show hosted by Sharmin Chowdhury, a television journalist. Choturnogo is a weekly show featuring individuals from the arts and entertainment field.

References

Television channels and stations established in 2016 Television channels in Bangladesh Mass media in Dhaka 2016 establishments in Bangladesh 24-hour television news channels in Bangladesh Television censorship Censorship in India Television controversies in India {{Bangladesh-tv-stub