BERLIN (Reuters) – Vodafone Germany had to stop distributing Chinese state television CGTN on its cable services due to a media dispute between Britain and China.
British telecommunications group Vodafone’s unit said on Friday that it hopes to restore CGTN’s services, but that it currently does not have a valid license to do so.
Great Britain revoked a license last week that allowed the distribution of CGTN in Great Britain. This drew protests from China, which on Friday banned the BBC from its television networks and limited its reach in Hong Kong.
A spokesman for regulators in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the regions where CGTN was available so far, said that CGTN was distributed in Germany under a British license.
Under the terms of a 1989 “cross-border television” agreement, created under the aegis of the Council of Europe, of which Britain remains a member, a distribution license in a European country applies across most of the continent – the which means that CGTN may now have to go offline throughout the region.
The agreement was signed by all countries in the European Union, as well as by many non-EU countries, including most Balkan countries and Ukraine. In principle, a license in any of them could allow resumption of distribution.
“We are currently in discussions about withdrawing the license with regional media authorities and representatives of the broadcaster in order to clarify the legal situation,” said Vodafone.
CGTN did not immediately respond to an email request for comment outside normal business hours on Friday, a holiday in China.
(Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik in Berlin and Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf. Additional reporting by Tom Daly. Writing by Thomas Escritt. Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Mark Potter)