Updated Breach Decision and Surrender of Licence – Khalsa Television Limited

On 13 May 2022, Ofcom issued a draft notice to revoke the broadcasting licence of Khalsa Television Limited, which Ofcom had suspended after its channel KTV broadcast material that was likely to incite violence. This was the third time within four years that this licensee had been found in breach of our rules on incitement to crime due to programmes inciting violence. The KTV television channel served the Sikh community in the United Kingdom.

Ofcom has a duty to revoke a broadcast licence if we are satisfied that:

1. the licensee has broadcast a programme likely to encourage or to incite the commission of crime;
2. it has therefore contravened its licence conditions; and
3. the contravention justifies the revocation of the licence.

On 26 May 2022, having received Ofcom’s draft revocation notice, Khalsa Television Limited surrendered its licence.

KTV had been off air since 31 March 2022, when Ofcom suspended Khalsa Television Limited’s licence following a serious breach of our broadcasting rules. Our investigation found that the presenter of a 95-minute live discussion programme called Prime Time, made several statements which, taken together, promoted violence, including murder, as an acceptable and necessary form of action to further the Khalistani cause.

We have today published an updated finding reiterating the seriousness of this breach.

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 this broadcaster, or those controlling it, were to apply for a broadcast licence in the future, Ofcom’s commencement of this revocation process, our decision today and the full compliance history of the former licensee would be major factors.

Updated Decision: Khalsa Television Limited (PDF, 848.9 KB)