Ofcom revokes TV licenses of president Overseas Friends of BJP (UK) – The Times of India

TOI correspondent from London: Britain’s communications industry regulator Ofcom said on Friday it has revoked both broadcast licenses of an Indian community TV channel run by Overseas Friends of BJP (UK) president Kuldeep Shekhawat.Both licenses were held by Middlesex Broadcasting Corporation Limited (MBCL) for MATV National and MATV Music.MATV National is a satellite television service that broadcast on Sky 709 in Indian languages ​​and English until Friday, providing news and entertainment for the South Asian diaspora in Europe. MATV Music has never been on the air and was only licensed.In Great Britain, a broadcasting license must be held by the provider of the service, that is, a person or organization that has editorial control over programmes.In August 2024, Ofcom began investigating the control that MBCL exercised over MATV National and MATV Music and determined that MBCL, the license holder for MATV, was not the provider as it had no editorial responsibility for MATV’s output, but instead it was MATV Broadcasting Ltd that exercised the control. Providing a television service without a license is a criminal offense in Great Britain.Shekhawat is director of MATV Broadcasting. He was the sole director and owned 90% of the shares until July 2025. Now his wife Alpana has 65% of the shares. Ofcom said it “would intend to refuse any application for the transfer of the licenses to MATV Broadcasting on the grounds that it appeared that they were likely to be a ‘disqualified person’.”A person who is an officer of a body whose objects are wholly or mainly political is disqualified from holding a TV license in Great Britain. “During this time, Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat has been president of the OFBJPUK. We were concerned that OFBJPUK was likely to be a body whose objectives are wholly or mainly political…,” Ofcom said.Shekhawat has been running the Wembley-based channel since 2005. He told TOI that his wife, Alpana, is now a director of MBCL and a majority shareholder.“Ofcom says I am not allowed to run the channel because of my political background. But I only became president of OFBJP UK in 2018. Before that, I was not involved in politics. OFBJP is not a political party. It is a social group. We will reapply for a 100% share license from another person,” he said.