Far Eastern Economic Review: Authorities Pull the Plug On BBC Broadcasts

Eighteen months after granting the British Broadcasting Corporation a licence to broadcast to upmarket hotels, foreigners' residence compounds and approved government offices in China, the Chinese authorities have pulled the plug on the service. The move against the BBC appears to vindicate concerns about a Chinese requirement last year that all foreign broadcasters distribute their channels in China via a state-controlled satellite, Sinosat-1. Broadcasters worried at the time that the arrangement would make it easier for Beijing to censor foreign broadcasts. "We are aware that an item which appeared on BBC World yesterday has caused some concern to the Chinese authorities with the result that they have temporarily suspended the encrypted transmission of the BBC World channel via the Chinese Sinosat-1 satellite in China," a BBC spokesperson told the Review on July 2. "We are seeking to understand in more detail the precise nature of their concerns and to see if they can be resolved in a positive and constructive manner." The spokesperson says the BBC "assumes" the problem is a report from Hong Kong that included references to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in the mainland. Beijing is highly sensitive about foreign media coverage of the Falun Gong. BBC World is still being broadcast to Asia unencrypted on the Panamsat 2, Panamsat 8 and Panamsat 10 satellites, the spokesperson adds. China-based would-be BBC viewers, however, cannot legally own receiving equipment giving them access to those signals.