BBC says broadcasts being disrupted in Middle East, Europe

[TheArtistFormallyKnownAs]

LONDON - The BBC said on Thursday its broadcasts were being disrupted in the Middle East and Europe. It did not say who was interfering with the signal.

"The BBC, together with a number of other broadcasters, is experiencing deliberate, intermittent interference to its transmissions to audiences in Europe and the Middle East," it said in a statement.

"Deliberate interference such as the jamming of transmissions is a blatant violation of international regulations concerning the use of satellites and we strongly condemn any practice designed to disrupt audiences' free access to news and information," the BBC said.

A spokeswoman for the BBC declined to say who could be responsible for the disruption.

Services suffering disruption included the BBC World News and BBC Arabic television channels and BBC World Service radio services in English and Arabic, the statement said.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=288356

[PacoTaco]

Hmm, maybe something has started!

[Chartman17]

Maybe the optic cable, microwave thingy is on the fritz?

Chartman17

[welcome007]

most likely a sandstorm lol

[zigmeister]

most likely a sandstorm lol

HAHAHA! I thought you wrote most likely sandstorm! I need another cup of coffee! Needless to say this is interesting.

[Tennesseegirl]

Hmm, maybe something has started!

Let's hope!!

[RodandStaff]

This being the Middle East where just about anything is possible I suppose, but more than likely this whole RV thing will just sneak up on us and we won't know it til after the fact... imo. Time will tell!

[zigmeister]

This being the Middle East where just about anything is possible I suppose, but more than likely this whole RV thing will just sneak up on us and we won't know it til after the fact... imo. Time will tell!

Maybe the are RV'ing the euro?

[TheArtistFormallyKnownAs]

RV maybe ,or someone may be getting ready to do something to Iran, that's not good

[zigmeister]

RV maybe ,or someone may be getting ready to do something to Iran, that's not good

Actually it is a concern as to what is going on, and apparently BBC is having a hard time finding out.

[hoosier1470]

Maybe someone found out where Shabbs is holdout, and someone is blocking the signal so the info doesn't get released!! I bet this makes the folks at Disneyland mad...after all, since we all know that is where he is...just think of how much money they are losing from the people who would run down there just to see him!!

[Butifldrm]

Advertise on NYTimes.com

Iran Media Officials Castigate Europe Over Satellite Blackout

By THOMAS ERDBRINK

Published: October 17, 2012

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TEHRAN — Denouncing what they called a hypocritical Western suppression of free speech, Iranian media officials expressed outrage on Wednesday over a decision by Europe’s largest satellite providers to cease transmission of Iran’s 19 state-operated satellite television and radio channels that broadcast to Europe and parts of the Middle East.

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The decision, announced Monday by the French company Eutelsat and the British company Arqiva, came as the European Union expanded its list of sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program. The satellite blackout has deprived the Iranian channels of an audience abroad that represents 200 million households.

The blocked channels include Iran’s flagship English-language Press TV news service and the Arabic-language Al Alam, both among the Islamic republic’s most powerful outlets for disseminating the government’s political and religious viewpoints.

Without mentioning Iran’s censorship of many Western media outlets, the official Iranian reaction on Wednesday was that Europe had attacked its own values of freedom of speech.

“They must understand the time of censorship is over,” said Ezzatollah Zarghami, the head of Iran’s state-run radio and television organization, known as Voice and Vision. “They want to prevent our views from being heard, but they will fail.”

Several of the blocked Iranian channels are now streaming over the Internet.

In July, Mr. Zarghami, who is directly appointed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was added to a list of sanctioned individuals by the European Union over what it called “human rights violations” by his channels.

Iran, which says it is fighting a Western cultural invasion, routinely blocks the transmission of the Persian services of Voice of America and the BBC, which it has labeled opposition channels. While satellite receivers and dishes are considered technically illegal in Iran, they are widely available across the country, where people have turned to channels offering Turkish and Latin American soap operas dubbed in Persian.

A spokesman for Eutelsat said that following orders by French authorities in the past, certain individual channels had faced similar measures, but it is the first time that all state television and radio channels of a country had been stopped.

Press TV, a 24-hour English language news channel started in 2007, said there had been “a chorus of harsh criticism” from viewers worldwide against the decision to stop its broadcasts.

The channel, popular among groups of Muslim immigrants in Europe, was blocked from transmitting on another European satellite service, Astra, in September.

A petition on Facebook, which is illegal in Iran, started by the channel, asking to keep Press TV on air in Europe, was liked by around 2,600 people as of Wednesday.

“Our contracts with Eutelsat and Arqiva have been terminated upon the orders of the Council of Europe, the same Europe that won the Nobel Peace Prize last week,” said Hamid Emadi, Press TV’s newsroom director. “We think this suspension is suppressive and illegal; the E.U. wants to decide what its people should see, read and hear.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/world/middleeast/iran-media-officials-castigate-europe-over-satellite-blackout.html?ref=middleeast&_r=0

[zigmeister]

Thanks Butifldream now we know what is going on.

[uncirculd]

Lookie here, our very own journalist found out and the BBC couldn't. Good job Butifldrm.

Ain't no info the DV's missing out on. We have the best journalist, and sleuth's.

[Butifldrm]

Lookie here, our very own journalist found out and the BBC couldn't. Good job Butifldrm.

Ain't no info the DV's missing out on. We have the best journalist, and sleuth's.

Thanks Zigmeister and uncirculd, but they/BBC probably could not access the New York Times because of communication problems.

[TheArtistFormallyKnownAs]

Lookie here, our very own journalist found out and the BBC couldn't. Good job Butifldrm.

Ain't no info the DV's missing out on. We have the best journalist, and sleuth's.

Go Dinar Vets ,, Good job Butifldrm.