Media regulator Ofcom said on Tuesday that CGTN's UK licence owners don't have day-to-day control over the channel, which fails to meet the legal requirement.

The UK licence is owned by Star China Media Limited.

"As such, SCML does not meet the legal requirement of having control over the licensed service, and so is not a lawful broadcast licensee," the watchdog said.

According to a BBC report, "In the UK, broadcasting laws say licensees must have control over their service and its editorial policies."

"Ofcom said an entity called China Global Television Network Corporation is "the ultimate decision maker" over programmes.

"But the regulator said it was unable to transfer the licence to that company because it is "ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, which is not permitted under UK broadcasting law"," the BBC report read

Ofcom said it had given the news channel 'significant time' to follow the existing rules, but the latter failed to do so.

"Those efforts have now been exhausted," it said.

Though China is yet to issue a statement, the recent development can further escalate tension between London and Beijing.