vigilant TV

The Lebanese government has shut down the private satellite television station NTV over its planned broadcast of a documentary about Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the US. The entire station has been cut off, and it’s not clear when service might return.

“The ministry carried out a memorandum from the prime ministership ordering the satellite transmission of New TV channel on the Arabsat and Nilesat satellites to be stopped,” a telecommunications ministry source said.

NTV officials said senior politicians had warned that the station risked being closed down altogether if it broadcast yesterday’s installment of weekly political show Bila Raqeeb, Arabic for Without a Censor, on its terrestrial network.

“We’ve been getting calls from politicians for two or three days asking us not to air the show because it goes too far, but we said we’re doing our job and they can’t tell us what to air or not,” NTV general manager Ibrahim Al Halaby said.

“Today, they cut us off without even seeing the programme in question.”

– Gulf Daily News, Lebanese TV shut in censorship row.

See also the BBC, Lebanon bans programme on Saudi Arabia, CNN, Lebanese cutting of TV network draws warnings.