Vodafone Germany suspends China TV from cable after licence withdrawn

The development comes a week after London revoked a licence for distributing CGTN in Britain, leading China on Friday to bar the BBC from its television networks. A spokesman for regulators in North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the regions where distribution has been paused, said that CGTN had until now been distributed under a British licence, and that this now no longer applied.

Vodafone Germany said it had suspended distribution of China's state-owned CGTN television on its cable services after authorities had withdrawn a licence for its distribution.

The operator said in a statement on Friday that it hoped to resume distribution, but needed a valid licence to do so. The development comes a week after London revoked a licence for distributing CGTN in Britain, leading China on Friday to bar the BBC from its television networks.

A spokesman for regulators in North Rhine-Westphalia, one of the regions where distribution has been paused, said that CGTN had until now been distributed under a British licence, and that this now no longer applied. It was unclear if the British licence no longer applied specifically because of Britain's withdrawal of it, or because Britain was no longer in the European Union's single market, whose members frequently recognizes each other's regulatory decisions.

"We are currently in discussions regarding the withdrawal of the licence both with regional media authorities and the broadcaster's representatives in order to clarify the legal situation," the company said.