CGTN: British regulators withdraw license from state-owned Chinese broadcaster

CGTN: British regulators withdraw license from state-owned Chinese broadcaster

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Media regulator Ofcom said on Thursday that the channel’s license had been revoked after an investigation “concluded that the license was being held incorrectly by Star China Media Limited.”

Ofcom stated that Star China Media Limited did not have ‘editorial responsibility’ for the production of the channel, and that it therefore did not comply with the legal requirement to have control over the licensed service. “Star acts as the distributor, rather than the provider of the news channel,” he added.

The regulators also rejected a proposal by CGTN to transfer the license to a new entity after finding that it would eventually be controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and thus disqualified under British law.

“We have offered CGTN numerous opportunities to comply with this, but it has not done so. We now consider it appropriate to withdraw the license for CGTN to broadcast in the UK,” a spokesman said. of Ofcom said.

Ofcom had earlier ruled that CGTN had repeatedly violated impartiality standards with its coverage of protests in Hong Kong last year.
CGTN was launched in 2016. It is said to provide “global audiences with accurate and timely news coverage as well as rich audiovisual services, which promote communication and understanding between China and the world, and enhance cultural exchanges and mutual trust between China and other countries.”

CGTN is headquartered in Beijing and has three manufacturing centers in Nairobi, Kenya, Washington DC and London.

– This is an evolving story and will be updated.

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