The interruptions occurred at 9:34 pm (1334 GMT) Monday on several provincial TV channels, which are broadcast to all cable TV subscribers in China, the Xinhua news agency said.

TV stations of central China's Hunan province and northeast Heilongjiang province were among those affected, Xinhua said, citing reports from viewers in Beijing.

Regular programming was replaced with Falungong content, Xinhua reported, but did not say what the content was or how long it lasted.

Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dajiyuan, an overseas Chinese language news website, said the pictures were not Falungong images but content calling on people to end their membership to the Chinese Communist Party, and an essay criticizing the Party.

Other TV stations affected included those from eastern Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces, where broadcast was interrupted for about five minutes, said Dajiyuan, which cited reports from its readers.

The incident was the second time the company's satellite had been hit by Falungong, with the last time in November, according to Xinhua.

It cited a statement by the company accusing the latest "deliberate" attack of "seriously violating international telecommunications treaties," and "contravening international regulations."

AsiaSat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd., whose major shareholders include China's state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group.

Members of Falungong, which was outlawed as an "evil cult" in 1999, have previously jammed other satellites to disrupt broadcasts into China, including during coverage of China's maiden manned space flight in 2003.

Those convicted of the crime have been jailed for up to 13 years.

The group, which mixes traditional Buddhist and Taoist beliefs with mass breathing and meditation exercises, aims to denounce China's crackdown, which has seen tens of thousands of adherents detained or jailed.

Many have allegedly been tortured or killed in custody.

China considers the group a threat to its rule.

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