Iran: Plug Pulled on Moderate Satellite TV

[sabra]

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=CultureAndMedia&loid=8.0.244164911&par=0

IRAN: PLUG PULLED ON MODERATE SATELLITE TV

Tehran, 28 Dec. (AKI) - Iranian authorities have shut down the new Saba satellite television channel, launched by the former parliamentary speaker and moderate Hojatolislam Mehdi Karrubi. The channel has been ruled illegal by the Tehran government and its director, former MP and film director, Behrouz Afkhami has been summoned to the ministry of intelligence. The channel was scheduled to begin broadcasting on 22 December, but Afkhami postponed the start of transmission for several days, attributing the delay to 'technical problems'.

However he later announced that "for political reasons everything was put off to an undefined date".

Karrubi, one of the challengers of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the recent elections, announced immediately after his defeat that he intended to launch a satellite television channel, saying it would be the free voice of the Etermad Melli (National Confidence) party. Etemad Melli was created by Karrubi in an attempt to group together various moderate movements under a single umbrella.

Karrubi accuses Ali Larijani,the secretary general of the Superior Council for National Security, of being behind the decision to pull the plug on Saba. Larijani, who for a decade was head of Iranian state broadcasting, told the Guardians Council in a letter that the new channel was anti-constitutional.

[kineneb]

1. this will not stop the people,

from what I gather, many have "illegal" dishes and can pick up news from a variety of non-approved sources. Never assume the Iranian people will blindly follow the ruling regime's dictates. They make it a hobby to see how much they can get away with. (lived there, know this for a fact)