Chinese broadcaster CGTN has been removed from German cable after its license to broadcast was revoked by the UK regulator.
Ofcom found CGTN to be ultimately controlled by the Communist Party of China. In doing so the channel also lost permission to be carried by networks in the 20 EU countries that are signatories to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT).
It means that cable networks are now obliged to remove CGTN from their line-ups, in the absence of any new licence application.
One of the first networks to remove CGTN was Vodafone Deutschland, though its absence was initially put down to a ‘technical malfunction’. However, other cablenets are expected to follow suit in the next few days.