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GB News faces the prospect of a significant fine after failing in its legal challenge to stop an ongoing sanctions process by regulator Ofcom against the loss-making broadcaster.
On Friday the channel, which is co-owned by hedge fund boss Paul Marshall, was told by a judge at the UK Royal Courts of Justice it could not block the regulator’s sanctions process against it while a separate review takes place over Ofcom’s original decision that it broke the rules.
GB News had argued that the regulator acted unlawfully by commencing and then making public an investigation into the channel’s decision to hold a live debate featuring then-prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
On Friday, the court ruled that a judicial review into Ofcom’s decision could go ahead, in a ruling the broadcaster said it was “extremely pleased” with. Any sanction that Ofcom may impose would be subject to the outcome of GB News’ legal challenge.
In May, the media regulator provisionally said that the Sunak programme had broken broadcasting impartiality rules, which it said represented a serious and repeated breach and so the channel could face a statutory sanction.
Ofcom had since “provisionally decided” to impose a “significant statutory fine” on GB News as part of a preliminary view sent to the channel in June, according to filings to the court. The regulator has not yet come to a final decision over whether to proceed with these sanctions. Previous fines issued by the regulator to channels including Russia Today and Chinese state-owned groups have run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
GB News had requested interim relief to prevent Ofcom from taking further steps in the sanctions process.
The broadcaster argued that it was planning to show a corresponding programme featuring Keir Starmer to provide balance, but that Ofcom had stopped this from happening by coming to its decision over the Sunak debate.
Ofcom’s decision prevented any clearly linked and timely programme that might have achieved the necessary due impartiality, GB News argued.
In its claim, GB News said that there was reputational harm should the sanctions process continue, although Ofcom asserts that much of the information related to its investigation is already in the public domain.
Ofcom argued that there was a clear breach of its rules and that there was no justification in preventing it from reaching a final decision on the imposition of sanctions.
Ofcom said in written submissions that this was the 12th breach since March last year, and that it was “not arguable” that the regulator had “erred in law” through its decision.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the court has rejected GB News’ attempt to suspend the sanctions process, and has recognised the significant public interest in Ofcom completing it.”
GB News said: “We believe some of its decisions [by Ofcom] in relation to GB News have been neither fair nor lawful and the court has recognised that there are serious arguable issues to be determined in this respect.”
