68 Members of the US Congress Request Eutelsat to Restore NTDTV Broadcasts into China

(Clearwisdom.net) On October 15, 2008, 68 members of the US Congress co-signed a letter to Eutelsat's Chairman and CEO Giuliano Berretta, requesting Eutelsat to immediately restore New Tang Dynasty's (NTDTV) signal to China. The letter was initiated by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congresswoman and ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Eliot Engel, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Sixty-eight members of the Congress signed the letter.

Ms. Ros-Lehtinen stated in the letter, "As Members of the United States congress, we are writing to respectfully request that Eutelsat restore New Tang Dynasty Television's (NTDTV) signal into China as soon as possible."

"As you know, in 2004, Congress celebrated the securing of a unique "open satellite window" into China and East Asia on Eutelsat's W5 satellite, and commended you personally for supporting NTDTV. That satellite window not only allowed US government-sponsored channels like Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) to broadcast to China, but also allowed NGO channels such as NTDTV to be freely received by tens of millions of private satellite dishes across China.

"We were therefore dismayed to see that NTDTV's signal to China was shut off as part of a technical incident on June 16-17. The signal still has not been restored to service by Eutelsat.

"We were even more disturbed by the report released by Reporters Without Borders suggesting that the targeted suspension of NTDTV was a "premeditated and politically-motivated decision" to expand business with Beijing.

"We respectfully request that you restore NTDTV's signal into China as soon as possible.

"We would rather not stipulate changes in the long-standing relationship between Eutelsat and the U.S. Government, and we hope that you can assert your leadership as you did in 2005 and restore service to NTDTV immediately. We appreciate your attention to this urgent matter."

Sincerely,

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Ranking Member

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Eliot L. Engel

Chairman

Subcommittee on the

Western Hemisphere

CC:

Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic of France

Mr. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America

Ms. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State