A recorded conversation has revealed a French-based satellite company cracked under pressure from the Chinese Communist regime and stopped broadcasting a TV station that Chinese authorities consider “sensitive.”
The conversation was recorded between an investigator from the journalist rights group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and a representative from Eutelsat’s Bejing office.
The investigator contacted Eutelsat claiming to be from China’s Central Propaganda Department inquiring how the satellite company was faring under international pressure to resume broadcasting of New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), a U.S. based Chinese Television Network.
On June 16, satellite broadcasting giant Eutelsat announced its suspension of NTDTV’s broadcast into China due to serious technical errors. However, rights groups and NTDTV have suspected the company of bowing to Chinese pressure due to the television station’s extensive coverage of China’s human rights abuses.
In the recording, the representative told RSF the cancellation was premeditated. Under pressure from Chinese authorities, the satellite company decided to shut down the transponder carrying NTDTV’s signal. The company then claimed that the broadcast stopped due to serious technical errors.
The conversation happened on June 23. Both the investigator and the Eutelsat employee’s names were withheld by RSF out of concern for their saftey.
“It was our company’s CEO in France who decided to stop NTDTV’s signal,” said the employee. “It was because we got repeated complaints and reminder from the Chinese government.”
The employee continued to tell the interlocutor that it was due to business prospects with China that Eutelsat decided to cancel NTDTV. Thales, the French company that manufactures Eutelsat’s satellites, had recently produced Zhongxing-9, a satellite commissioned by the Chinese government to provide coverage of the Olympic Games. China has also agreed to use its Long March rocket to launch Eutelsat’s satellites.
