BERLIN (Reuters) – Vodafone Germany had to stop the distribution of China’s state-owned CGTN television on its cable services due to a media battle between Britain and China.
The unit of the British telecommunications group Vodafone said on Friday that it hopes to restore CGTN in its services, but that it does not currently have a valid license to do so.
Britain last week revoked a license that allowed CGTN to distribute in Britain. This sparked protests from China, which barred the BBC from its television networks on Friday and restricted reach in Hong Kong.
A spokesman for regulators in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the regions where CGTN has been available so far, said CGTN was distributed under the British license in Germany.
Under the terms of a 1989 agreement on ‘cross-border television’, created under the auspices of the Council of Europe, of which Britain is a member, a distribution license is valid in one European country over most of the continent – which means CGTN may be going from air over the region.
The agreement has been signed by all countries of the European Union, as well as many countries outside the EU, including most Balkan countries and Ukraine. In principle, a license in one of them can resume distribution.
“We are currently in talks about withdrawing the license with local authorities and the broadcaster’s representatives to clarify the legal situation,” Vodafone said.
CGTN on Friday, a public holiday in China, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment outside normal office hours.
(Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik in Berlin and Matthias Inverardi in Düsseldorf. Additional reporting by Tom Daly. Writing by Thomas Escritt. Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Mark Potter)