France: NTDTV Holds a Press Conference at a Eutelsat Shareholder’s Conference

In the afternoon of October 8th, New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) and their supporters held a press conference outside the Eutelsat Share Holder Conference venue in Caen, France. They strongly requested Eutelsat to resume the NTDTV broadcast to Asia.

A share holder gives an interview to NTDTV	Large banners displayed during the rally calling on Eutelsat to resume NTDTV's transmission

A representative of NTDTV gives a media interview

On June 16th 2008, Eutelsat SA abruptly terminated the broadcast of New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) over mainland China under the guise of a “power anomaly” to its W5 satellite. The press conference in Caen strongly demands Eutelsat to resume NTDTV broadcasts. The event attracted attention from many share holders, media outlets and local residents who learned from NTDTV supporters that Eutelsat Chairman and CEO Giuliano Berretta chose to shut down the broadcast of NTDTV mere weeks before the start of the Olympics in order to curry favour with Beijing and pave the way for future business deals.

At the press conference, the NTDTV French Branch appealed to stock holders to urge Berretta to resume NTDTV broadcast immediately. A representative from Sound of Hope Radio elaborated the importance of free media to the Chinese people and the fact that NTDTV is the only independent TV available to them. Before the broadcast was suspended, NTDTV reportedly had about a 50 million audience in Mainland China alone.

Many stock holders received a special print about the NTDTV case and asked for more background information. Outside the conference venue, supporters displayed eye-catching banners which were visible to more than 250 share holders inside the building and passing-by vehicles and pedestrians. A number of stock holders expressed their support for NTDTV and said that they would try their best to help.

A share holder told the reporter that he knew the Chinese Communist Regime quite well and he was not surprised by this incident. He gave his best wishes to NTDTV and the Chinese people.

Another share holder told the reporter that he felt very sorry for what had happened and he would contact politicians to help the NTDTV.

Mr. Li Minghong who is in his 80s is a loyal NTDTV viewer and he said: “I hope that people in China will be able to watch NTDTV broadcasts so that they can know what is really going on in China and around the world.”

Reporters from many media outlets including Normandie National TV 3 and RFI Normandie Station attended the press conference and interviewed an NTDTV representative. Normandie National TV 3 reported the press conference in its evening news on the same day.