Authorities said the broadcast on January 30 did not abide by licensing and content codes and that TV3 had failed to control inappropriate content.
KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities in mainly Muslim Malaysia have banned a popular live television talk show following comments by a guest about the Prophet Mohammed's first wife, according to a report on Saturday.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it had banned live broadcasts of the weekly Sensasi (Sensation) programme on private station TV3 after the comments by well-known actress Rosnah Mat Aris.
It said the broadcast on January 30 did not abide by licensing and content codes and that TV3 had failed to control inappropriate content, the Star newspaper reported.
"With this, TV3 has been asked to stop the live broadcast of the show with immediate effect," the commission was quoted as saying in a statement to the newspaper.
In the show, which features discussions with those in the arts and entertainment industry, Rosnah reportedly linked gossip about her relationship with a younger man to the Prophet's marriage to his first and older wife, Siti Khadijah.
Her comments sparked numerous complaints from viewers and attracted the attention of Malaysia's Islamic authorities.
The MCMC did not directly state whether Rosnah's comments had insulted Siti Khadijah, but MCMC spokeswoman Adelina Iskandar chided the Sensasi programme for being out of step with national values, the daily said.
Sensasi should have "contributed to the national aspiration and not offend the sensitivity or values of the community," she was quoted as saying.
Adelina said TV3 would need approval from Malaysia's Film Censorship Board to air pre-recorded versions of the programme.
The commission could not be immediately reached for further comment.
TV3 and a number of other Malaysian media outlets have been pulled up in the past year for content deemed insulting to Islam.
In March last year, TV3 and another private station, ntv7, issued apologies for inadvertently airing pictures of the controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that sparked global protests.
Malaysia also closed down one newspaper in February 2006 for publishing the drawings, and then suspended another and forced a third to apologise after they published content related to the cartoons.
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