BBC World is the British Broadcasting Corporation's 24-hour international current affairs TV channel with BBC News, documentaries, lifestyle programmes and interviews, and was launched in January 1995. Internationally, it competes with the US network CNN International, and also with Sky News in Europe.
It was formerly known as BBC World Service Television, although unlike BBC World Service radio it is commercially funded, as the British government refused to extend the Foreign Office grant-in-aid. It was originally carried on Star TV, the pan-Asian satellite television service based in Hong Kong, which was later acquired by Rupert Murdoch. Owing to the People's Republic of China government's dislike of the BBC's news coverage, Star TV dropped its carriage of the channel in the region, although the Corporation later found another satellite.
BBC World is carried on satellite and cable, and its bulletins are also rebroadcast on local terrestrial channels. It is not officially available in the United Kingdom, on the grounds that it carries advertising, although it can be received via satellite. However, between 0100 and 0500 UTC each day, its news bulletins and programmes are shown on BBC News 24 as well as BBC ONE; these are simply identified as "BBC News" with no reference to any channel. On weekdays BBC World also produces a 30 minute analytical news programme called The World which can be seen in the UK on BBC Four.
BBC World also makes its own programming like HARDtalk, which features interviews with famous people, World Business Report, Asia Today, Click Online (technology), Fasttrack (travel), and Talking Movies. In India, it also shows programmes tailor-made for a regional audiences, including Indian versions of the BBC's current affairs programme Question Time and quiz show University Challenge, and motor show Wheels, similar to Top Gear.
The old BBC World ident, used between 2000 - 2003.
Half-hour BBC World News segments are made available to PBS stations in the United States through WLIW in New York. 80 to 90% of the American public are able to receive them, though broadcast times vary between different localities. BBC World News bulletins are also available on BBC America, but that channel is usually only available on digital cable and satellite systems. BBC World News segments also air on CBC Newsworld in Canada.
BBC World is based at BBC Television Centre in west London.
External links
Last updated: 08-30-2005 09:29:06
