A Staten Island man has been providing the banned Hizballah TV channel Al-Manar to viewers in New York City: Man charged with relaying Hezbollah TV. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

NEW YORK - A businessman was charged with providing satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah television station to New York-area customers, authorities said Thursday.

Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested Wednesday on conspiracy charges of enabling the broadcasts of al Manar, which was designated by the U.S. government this spring as a global terrorist entity, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in a statement.

Garcia said Iqbal used satellite dishes at his Staten Island home to distribute the broadcasts through a Brooklyn company called HDTV Limited.

The probe began after a tip from a confidential source in February, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

As far as I’m concerned, this is only the beginning of the story. Who were the customers for this virulently anti-American and antisemitic programming—and how many were there? (But don’t hold your breath waiting for mainstream media to follow up on this.)