23 April 1999

ITC REVOKES MED TV’S LICENCE

The ITC today (23 April) served a notice revoking the licence of satellite channel Med TV. The notice takes effect in 28 days, as the statute requires. The service meanwhile remains suspended.

Med TV’s licence was suspended on 22 March by the ITC under Section 45A of the 1990 Broadcasting Act, following four broadcasts which included inflammatory statements encouraging acts of violence in Turkey and elsewhere. These were judged by the ITC as “likely to encourage or incite to crime or lead to disorder”. This is against UK law, as set out in the 1990 and 1996 Broadcasting Acts.

A meeting between Members of the Commission and Med TV and its legal representatives was held on Friday 9 April to allow the licensee to make representations, in accordance with the statute.

In the light of their repeated failure to comply with the requirements of their licence, Med TV had already been served a notice by the ITC in November 1998, informing them that their licence would be revoked if over the following six months its service failed to comply with its licence and the ITC’s Programme Code. The record of Med TV since December 1995 is listed in the attachment to this press release.

“The Commission took careful note of the representations made to it, not just from Med TV but from others who have made representations on their behalf,” said ITC Chairman, Sir Robin Biggam. “We took particular and sympathetic account of the circumstances in which the broadcasts in question were made and the changes which Med TV proposed to make to its service in future. However, the Commission decided that it was necessary in the public interest to revoke this licence and has served a notice on the licence holder to that effect. Whatever sympathy there may be in the United Kingdom for the Kurdish people, it is not in the public interest to have any broadcaster use the UK as a platform for broadcasts which incite people to violence. Med TV have been given many opportunities to be a peaceful voice for their community; to allow them to continue broadcasting after such serious breaches would be to condone the misuse of the UK’s system for licensing broadcasters.

“In considering Med TV’s representations, in particular the remedial action proposed, we had to bear in mind that there have been most serious and repeated failures on their part to comply with their licence and the ITC Programme Code. There has also been a failure to implement effectively undertakings made to the Commission in the past. Under these circumstances, the Commission was not satisfied that measures short of revocation would prevent repetition.

“We regret that this action has proved necessary, but we must take into account the requirements placed upon us by Parliament to act in such circumstances.”

22 March 1999

ITC ISSUES SUSPENSION ORDER

The ITC today (22 March 1999) announced that it had suspended for a period of 21 days the satellite television service licence of Med Broadcasting Ltd (Med TV). Med TV have been informed that they are entitled to make representations within 21 days. At the end of that period, and having regard to the representations made, the ITC must decide whether or not to revoke Med TV's licence.

The Commission has taken this action under powers given by Parliament in Section 89 of the 1996 Broadcasting Act which oblige the Commission to serve a notice of suspension if a licence holder has included in its service one or more programmes containing material likely to encourage or incite to crime or to lead to disorder of a nature sufficient to justify revocation.

The Commission considers that several broadcasts by Med TV have clearly contained such material. In relation to one of these broadcasts in particular, Med TV accepts that it breached its licence and the Code. The broadcasts in question contain various calls to carry out acts of violence in Turkey.

The Commission must now consider any representation from Med TV before deciding whether they are satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to revoke the licence.

Notes to Editors

1. Med TV has previously received two formal warnings from the ITC for breaches of the Programme Code: in November 1996 (for two breaches relating to due impartiality;) and in March 1998 (for a breach relating to incitement to crime). There was also an upheld complaint for a due impartiality Code breach in March 1996. In January 1998, financial penalties totalling ?0,000 were imposed upon Med TV for three serious breaches of the impartiality requirements of the Code (see ITC News Release 30 January 1998).
2. In November 1998, the ITC issued a notice to Med TV that its licence would be revoked if, over the following six months, its service failed to comply with the terms of its licence and the Programme Code. The notice required Med TV to take certain steps to ensure full compliance (see ITC News Release 23 November 1998). This followed breaches of the Code relating to due impartiality and condoning violent behaviour.
3. For details of individual breaches of the ITC Programme Code, see Programme Complaints and Interventions Reports April 1996, November 1996, February/March 1998, and October/November 1998. All are available on the ITC website, www.itc.org.uk or from the ITC information office, as are the ITC News Releases.
4. Section 89 of the 1996 Broadcasting Act introduces a new section, 45A, into the Broadcasting Act 1990 which gives specific powers to the ITC to suspend a licence to provide a satellite television service if the Commission is satisfied that the holder of the licence has included in the service one or more programmes containing material likely to encourage or incite to crime or to lead to disorder; that the holder has failed to comply with a condition in the licence and that the failure is such as to justify the revocation of the licence.
5. Section 6 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 requires the ITC to ensure that programmes do not include material which is likely to encourage or incite to crime or to lead to disorder. The ITC's Programme Code reflects this requirement in Section 5 of the Code and it applies to the advocacy of violence or other criminal activity within or outside the UK.

(download a MS Word format of this press release)