UK regulator says Russia's RT channel could lose licence over spy poisoning

Source: France 24

March 13, 2018 at 13:31

© Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP | British MPs have called for the Kremlin-owned TV channel to be taken off air.

Britain's media regulator Ofcom said Russian broadcaster RT could lose its UK licence if Prime Minister Theresa May's government determines that Moscow was behind the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in England this month.

Ofcom, which has repeatedly censured the Kremlin-controlled channel for a lack of impartiality, said it would wait until May outlines Britain's response to Russia on Wednesday and then "consider the implications for RT's broadcast licenses".

Ofcom has an ongoing duty to check that holders of broadcast licences remain "fit and proper" to operate in Britain.

The regulator said it had written to ANO TV Novosti, the holder of RT's UK broadcast licences, to explain that, should Britain determine there was unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the UK, it would consider this relevant to the "fit and proper" test.

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