BBC World draws China's ire with Falun Gong footage

BBC World draws China's ire with Falun Gong footage


BEIJING, July 5 (Reuters) - The British Broadcasting Corporation's global TV channel may be off the air in China for some time after Beijing stopped transmission to protest its news coverage, industry sources said on Friday.

China cut transmission of the BBC's World Service Television channel after a report this week showed members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement in Hong Kong protesting against visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Uncensored footage relating to Falun Gong ranks high on China's list of banned media material, along with mention of Taiwan or Tibet in ways that stray from the Communist Party line.

"By taking a kind of explicit public action like this with the BBC...it's sort of a notice that you're off," said an foreign TV executive in China, who declined to be identified.

"They usually are not in the habit of turning people on and off for a few days," said the executive.

It is not the first time China has cut foreign news channels, shown in the country only to foreigners, who live in housing approved by the government and to guests in upmarket hotels.

BBC World was allowed to broadcast in China last year. BBC programmes were previously pulled off the air in 1994 by its Chinese distributor when the content ruffled Beijing.

In 1999 China barred access to U.S. satellite news channel CNN for some Beijing residents ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square student protests.

NEW SATELLITE SYSTEM

Analysts say China fears social instability at a time of wrenching economic reforms due to the country's entry last year into the World Trade Organisation.

The ban also comes as China seeks to move foreign TV channels onto a single encrypted broadcast satellite, state-owned Sinosat.

Media regulators began negotiations last year with foreign channels shown in China to move them onto the new system.

Sinosat serves as a one-flip switch Beijing can use to gain leverage over foreign channels, media analysts said.

"Our encrypted signal through the Sinosat 1 satellite was stopped by the Chinese authorities on Monday. No official reason has been given, but we understand there was dissatisfaction with the content of a news bulletin," a BBC spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The BBC spokeswoman said the channel could still be watched via signals from non-Chinese satellites.

Officials at China International TV (CITV), the state-run company responsible for distributing foreign channels in China, could not be reached for comment.

Some industry watchers believe the swift response was linked to cases this year of state television signals being hijacked to show material prepared by Falun Gong activists.

"If (state TV) from time to time starts broadcasting Falun Gong material, that's an enormous loss of face for the system at large," said an executive with another foreign broadcaster in China.