UK media regulator Ofcom has fined London-based NTV, a channel which broadcasts to the wider Bangladesh community throughout Europe, with a £20,000 fine. Ofcom says the fine was for repeated failure of its Broadcasting Code.

The channel, which is owned by the International Television Channel Europe (ITCE) breached the Ofcom code on twenty occasions between April 2013 and September 2014.

“There was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the Licensee had taken sufficient steps to put in place adequate compliance arrangements for the purposes of ensuring that all programmes broadcast complied in all respects with the provisions of its TLCS licence from the point at which it was granted a licence; and (c) the number and repeated nature of these breaches demonstrated that they resulted from the Licensee’s systemic failure to implement adequate compliance procedures and satisfactory arrangements to ensure these procedures were followed,” stated Ofcom.

Ofcom also put ITCE on notice that it will take a very serious view of any further breaches of ITCE’s regulatory obligations which result from the poor or ineffective compliance arrangements that it has in place and this could lead Ofcom to consider whether revocation of the Licence would be appropriate.

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