Ofcom statement on Peace TV Urdu

Ofcom issued a draft notice to suspend the broadcasting licence of Club TV Limited after its channel Peace TV Urdu repeatedly rebroadcast material that we had previously found incited murder.

Ofcom has a duty to suspend a broadcast licence if we are satisfied that the licensee has broadcast a programme likely to encourage or to incite the commission of crime; that it has therefore contravened its licence conditions; and that the contravention justifies the revocation of the licence.

On 18 November 2019, having received Ofcom’s draft suspension notice, Club TV surrendered its licence.

Its sister company Lord Production Inc Limited, which held the licence to broadcast the English language Peace TV service, also surrendered its licence at the same time. The Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu services are no longer broadcasting.

We have today published a finding that Club TV’s repeated breaches were very serious.

Any person who wishes to hold a broadcast licence must be fit and proper to hold it. Ofcom has a duty to be satisfied of that, and broadcasts which incite murder are clearly relevant to that duty.

If these broadcasters, or those controlling them, were to apply for a broadcast licence in the future, Ofcom’s commencement of this suspension process, our decision today and the full compliance history of the former licensees would be major factors.

Source: Ofcom