China’s state TV station has been taken off the air in Britain after Ofcom established that it was controlled by the country’s Communist Party.
CGTN went dark on Sky and Freesat moments after the media regulator announced that the channel’s licence to broadcast had been revoked. The Chinese network was already facing sanctions from the watchdog for its one-sided coverage of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and for broadcasting prisoners’ forced confessions.
In recent years CGTN has invested tens of millions in a European hub in Chiswick, west London, as part of Beijing’s efforts to influence the global news agenda.
The channel has been described as the “tongue and throat” of the Chinese Communist Party but its licence to broadcast in Britain was held by
