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Tag: BBC World Service

  • BBC plans special programming around Fifa World Cup

    BBC plans special programming around Fifa World Cup

    MUMBAI: As Africa plays host to the Fifa World Cup for the first time this June, the BBC’s international news services will offer a global perspective on events in the build-up to, and during, the tournament.

    From within this continent and beyond, special interactive programming will connect fans around the world, while the BBC’s multi-lingual services will offer comprehensive sporting analysis, a mix of news and current affairs and local, regional and international insights.

    Pre-tournament programming highlights include Africa Kicks, a journey through the region of West Africa that has produced a wealth of international football talent. The Power and the Passion is a new four part series on BBC World Service English in which writer and broadcaster David Goldblatt examines the relationship between football and fans, as he travels to four fiercely contested local derby games in Ghana, Italy, Egypt and the UK.

    George Weah and Didier Drogba’s exploits off the pitch are the focus of Life on the Edge on BBC World News. BBC Swahili will be producing a special series on the ‘health’ of football in East Africa, while BBC Hausa will examine the significance of the World Cup for Africa.

    Over the course of the tournament, BBC World Service will have a special daily multimedia show, World Cup Have Your Say, which moves the football pundits aside to let fans air their views. The World Today, presented by Komla Dumor and Ros Atkins, will be live from Soweto, and special editions of Sportsworld with Russell Fuller will feature interviews, analysis and insight covering the full spectrum of international teams. World Football will have a special focus on football in South Africa and the impact of apartheid on the game.

    On BBC World News, Football Focus will bring audiences contributions and analysis from four times Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf, World Cup winner Juergen Klinsmann, England legend Alan Shearer and Togolese international and Manchester City star Emmanuel Adebayor. Sport Today with Sean Fletcher will provide daily news and updates on all the stories from the tournament.

    Fast Track, the flagship sports show presented by Farayi Mungazi on BBC World Service, will feature news, interviews and special reports around the tournament.

    A range of the BBC’s international non English-language services will be bringing the atmosphere, stories and news to audiences around the world. For BBC Arabic, Sherif El-Sherif is hosting a multimedia show, while BBC Persian will be examining the cultural, social and economic impact of the tournament on South Africa. BBC Brasil will be following the fortunes of the Brazilian team and finding out what the Brazilian organisation for the 2014 tournament can learn from South Africa. Other services offering daily news, stories and updates include BBC Hausa, BBC Swahili, BBC Hindi, BBC Para Africa and BBC Mundo.

    BBC.com/worldcup is offering an extensive range of video and interactive content to ensure football fans are kept fully up to date with the competition online. Video collections will include Road to South Africa, featuring the qualifying goals that won teams their place in the tournament, as well as 32 team profile vignettes of the teams themselves.

    BBC.com/worldcup will include blogs and insight, as well as live text commentary of all the games from morning to midnight. It will also include interviews, a World Cup daily gossip column and interactive areas where fans can contribute their voice to events through mobile, SMS and social media.

    In addition, a search for international football memorabilia will be the focus of Fans’ Football Favourites, while My First World Cup will bring together a unique international squad – players all taking part in their first World Cup.

  • BBC World Service launches news programme for Afghanistan

    BBC World Service launches news programme for Afghanistan

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service has launched a news and current affairs programme for audiences in the Southern and Eastern regions of Afghanistan.

    Stasu Narray, from the BBC Pashto service, will bring 30 minutes of news and in-depth analysis to Pashto-speakers, including those on the Pakistan border, every day at 9 pm in Afghanistan . Stasu Narray will discuss a range of topics, from politics and economy to health and sports.

    There will also be opportunities for listeners to share their views on key issues affecting their lives in special phone-ins.

    BBC Persian and Pashto service head Andres Ilves says, “The BBC has been broadcasting to Afghanistan for many decades. Nearly two out of three adults listen to our programmes at least once a week, and research shows that the BBC is the international broadcaster most Afghans trust and tune in to.

    “We are delighted to be able to draw on our rich experience and expertise of the region to offer a new bespoke daily programme for southern Afghanistan. I am certain that our listeners will benefit from the BBC’s tradition of impartial journalism and comprehensive on-the-ground coverage.”

  • BBC World Service weekly audiences in India grow by one million

    BBC World Service weekly audiences in India grow by one million

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service’s weekly radio audience estimate is 182 million listeners a week across its 33 language services – down one million on last year’s record 183 million total.

    However the English language service attracted 40 million weekly listeners – up two million on last year. BBC World Service weekly audiences in Indian and Nigerian radio markets each grew by around a million or more during the year. BBC World Service is now available on FM in 154 capital cities, up from 152 last year.

    The BBC World Service has published its annual review. In his foreword, BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman said, “It was a broadcasting year that saw the launch of the first BBC television news channel for a decade, improvements to our future media services, and the retention of our global radio listenership after the large increase of the previous 12 months.

    “In these ways, 2007/08 can be seen as a defining year; we demonstrated our ability to innovate while retaining the affection of audiences, who have been loyal to us for a large part of our history.”

    BBC World Service is further developing its multimedia strategy, including the launch of BBC Arabic television. Independent research indicates that BBC World Service’s reputation for providing unbiased and objective news and information is stronger than that of any other international radio competitor in virtually all markets surveyed.

    BBC World Service’s online sites attracted a record 259.6 million page impressions in March 2008, compared to 189.8 million in March 2007, an increase of 37 per cent.

    BBC Global News services – which include BBC World Service, BBC World News television and bbc.com/news (the BBC’s international-facing online news site) – maintained its record global weekly audience of over 233 million during 2007/08.

    BBC World Service’s Grant-in-aid funding for 2007/08 was £255 million.

  • BBC World Service invites audience to help create interactive drama

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service’s weekday magazine programme Outlook is doing an interactive drama collaboration that asks listeners to help create a play – Kim’s Game – to be broadcast in the World Drama slot on 16 February.

    The idea is that Outlook listeners will steer the writer Jonathan Myerson in his scripting of the full 60-minute play.

    In Kim’s Game, a young woman walks into a London police station with no idea of who she is or how she got there.

    She goes on Outlook to explain her predicament on air and to ask if anyone out there knows her. Her plea appears online as a blog, with pictures of the objects that she has with her – which include a key and two photos.

    She calls herself Kim – after the game in which listeners have to look at objects on a tray and then remember them when they are removed. Meanwhile, she tries to regain her memory. What does the key open? Who is the young man in the photo, which seems to have been torn in half?

    Listeners are invited to post comments identifying the pictures or the key, suggesting who the young woman might be and what might have happened to her. Each day, she will learn more about herself from the listeners.

    When other clues turn up, Outlook’s listeners are invited to contribute. Perhaps there is a song she can’t get out of her head? What does it mean? Perhaps the door which can be opened by the key is found – what lies behind it?

    Finally, the young woman discovers something that raises big questions about how she came to be where she is.

  • Intl broadcasters condemn rising threats to media freedom

    MUMBAI: The heads of BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio France Internationale, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Voice of America have called upon governments to honour the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and “end any and all practices that hamper the rights of people everywhere to receive and impart information.”

    At their annual meeting in Hilversum, the Netherlands, the directors of the BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio France Internationale, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Voice of America issued a joint resolution denouncing what they termed growing trends towards media restrictions and attacks on journalists in many of the countries to which they broadcast.

    While acknowledging that each broadcaster has had different experiences, they spoke with one voice about a common concern – the “grave and rising threats to the right to gather information and communicate it across national borders.”

    Radio Netherlands Worldwide DG Jan Hoek said, “Our most important objective is to inform people without access to diverse media sources and viewpoints, who lack reliable and independent information.

    “In a progressively polarised environment where the media in many countries are encountering fierce curbs on their freedom to publish, we need to stand together to meet the needs of those millions of audiences worldwide who have come to depend on us as a vital source of trustworthy information.”

    According to several press monitoring organisations, press freedom has been on the decline in many countries in recent years. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has tracked an increase in the number of journalists killed at work each year since 2002.

    The five international broadcasters reach hundreds of millions weekly by radio, television and the Internet. Programmes are produced in 60 languages and broadcast worldwide through thousands of affiliate radio stations, television channels and cable systems.

    The joint statement reads, “In recent years, international broadcasters have seen grave and rising threats to the right to gather information and communicate it across national borders.

    “A growing number of countries – in Eurasia, Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America – have restricted or blocked coverage of events of significant public interest. Journalists – including many working for our organisations – have been detained, arrested, expelled, kidnapped or killed.

    “Particularly disturbing are new efforts by some governments, through the licensing and regulatory process, to restrict or forbid local rebroadcasts of our programmes on radio and television through local partnerships. And more states are deliberately interfering with broadcast signals or are attempting to block or censor the internet.

    “As international broadcasters, we deplore such efforts – and call upon governments to end any and all practices that hamper the right of people everywhere to ‘receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’” [United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights]

    “Each of us has a different history, a different mission, different resources and different experiences, but we all share a common goal – to present accurate and comprehensive news and information to audiences around the world. Accordingly, we oppose efforts to restrict this important work, and call upon governments worldwide to halt such practices.”

  • BBC World Service Trust launches Jo Bola Wohi Sikander campaign

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service Trust has launched a campaign Jo Bola Wohi Sikander, wherein a riddle will be given to get people talking about a taboo issue as they try to solve the clues.

    The campaign is produced by the BBC World Service Trust and funded by $5.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The campaign will be seen in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

    Currently in its launch phase, the campaign is part of a two-and-a-half-year project that will be seen and heard on TV, radio and cinema, on supporting billboards and in print media.

    BBC Trust creative director Radharani Mitra said, “The strength of the creative idea behind this campaign is that instead of an ad that tells people to talk, it actually stimulates people to talk. We believe the riddle posed in the advertisements is sufficiently enticing and tricky that people will have to talk about it with their friends in order to arrive at the answer.”

    As a part of the campaign, audiences will be given a local number to call up and leave their answers of the riddle. The winner will get a mobile phone with free talk time.

    A parrot, which represents talking and smartness, has been chosen as the campaign’s mascot. The parrot is smart, pesky, has an opinion about everything and a sense of humour. The campaign’s strapline,Jo Bola Wohi Sikander (‘those who talk are winners’), aims to stimulate ongoing conversation between people.

  • BBC World Service receives £70 million fund increase

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service will receive a £70 million funding increase from the UK government for the three-year period from 2008-2009 to 2010-2011.

    The announcement was made by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling during his Comprehensive Spending Review announcement in Parliament.

    The announcement formally confirmed £15 million per annum funding for a BBC news and information television channel in the Farsi (Persian) language for Iran which will be launched next year.

    The go-ahead for the service was announced in October 2006 by then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. BBC World Service also received funding to enhance its forthcoming Arabic language television news and information channel.

    The services in Arabic and Farsi will be the first television news services to be launched by the BBC in a decade. They will be the first television services to be publicly-funded by Grant-in-aid from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office. The new BBC Arabic Television Service is due to launch around the turn of the year, initially as a 12-hour a day news and information service, at a cost of £19 million per annum.

    This initial service was funded through reprioritisation of the BBC World Service’s language portfolio and self-help efficiencies. The extra funding announced means the new channel would be able to broadcast 24 hours a day from an appropriate point during the next financial year. A full year’s operational cost of the additional 12 hours of television broadcasting in Arabic will be an extra £6m per annum.

    The overall settlement also includes £1m per annum from 2009-10 to enhance BBC World Service’s multi-media operations in languages relevant to ethnic communities resident in the UK. In common with other public organisations, BBC World Service plans to meet its rising costs from within its existing budget through a vigorous programme of efficiency savings.

    BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman said, “As we mark the 75th birthday of the BBC’s service to the world this December, this settlement strengthens BBC World Service’s future as a multi-media provider of high quality independent and impartial news and information around the world.

    “It specifically means that audiences in the Middle East and Iran will have multi-media access – through television, radio, and online – to trusted journalism of the highest standing and increased opportunity for dialogue and debate. We believe this will be a popular and valuable asset for audiences in this troubled region.

    “This is a good settlement for BBC World Service. We are grateful for the support we have received from our stakeholders in Parliament and across Whitehall in these discussions and, in particular, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Treasury.”

    The new investment means that BBC World Service’s overall funding level would rise from £246m in 2007-8 to £271m by 2010-11. BBC World Service would receive an extra £19m in 2008-9; £26m in 2009-10; and £25m in 2010-11.

    In common with other public organisations and the domestic BBC, BBC World Service plans to meet its rising costs from within its existing budget through a vigorous programme of efficiency savings.

  • BBC on FM in Maldives for first time

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC World Service’s English radio programmes can now be heard on FM for the first time in the Maldives capital of Male.

    BBC World Service news bulletins, sporting and current affairs programmes will broadcast daily on Capital Radio 95.6 following the signing of a new agreement with their owner Asna Maldives Pvt Ltd.

    BBC business development manager for the South Asia Pacific region Helen Kathuria said, “The BBC has a strong tradition of loyal listenership in this region so it’s great that we can reach yet more people in crystal clear FM quality sound. We are also delighted to be partnering with one of the first private radio broadcasters in the Maldives.”

    Asna Maldives MD Abdulla Nasheed added, “We are proud to be associated with the world’s leading international radio broadcaster and thrilled that our listeners can now enjoy the BBC’s unique mix of news, sports and feature programmes across the city.”

  • BBC Learning English launches on Chinese portal Sina

    MUMBAI: Visitors to Chinese web portal, sina.com.cn, can now learn English with the BBC. The site offers its users direct access to the BBC Learning English content specially tailored for Chinese-speakers.

    BBC Learning English teaches various points of the English language through human interest stories and topics including UK lifestyle and culture.

    Visitors to sina.com.cn now can learn to read, write and speak English through the BBC’s four popular Learning English features: Take Away English, Quizzes, Ask About Britain and Off The Pitch.

    Take Away English consists of units which learners can literally “take away” as MP3 and PDF text downloads. Topics, which range from the latest Harry Potter book and online gaming to Chinese football players, include listening and reading exercises and an audio glossary.

    The Quizzes section offers learners an interactive test of their English vocabulary and grammar and helps them with teacher feedback. Ask About Britain answers users’ questions on British life and culture while Off The Pitch helps football enthusiasts to learn new words and phrases on the game.

    Commenting on the partnership deal with sina.com.cn, BBC World Service Business Development Manager for China and North Asia, Raymond Li said, “We are delighted to partner with sina.com.cn to provide quality English learning content in China. The Internet has become an increasingly popular and effective learning platform among young people, and to cater for this audience the BBC has been building up successful partnerships with a number of Chinese portals over last few years. This latest partnership with sina.com.cn will help us reach more online learners in China, therefore bringing more benefit to them, too.”

    sina.com.cn executive VP and chief editor Tong Chen says, “As the world’s number one Chinese portal site, sina.com.cn is very pleased to have BBC as our partner. This co-operation will enable us to provide online users in China with the most authoritative, professional, advanced English learning materials in the world, thus helping to improve English teaching and learning all over China.”

    BBC Learning English offers English language teaching programmes and online content for a global radio and online audience. English learning materials are available online at bbclearningenglish.com and, for Chinese speakers, on bbcchina.com.cn.

  • BBC World Service audience touches 183 million

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service now claims to have more listeners than any other international radio broadcaster, with an increase in its audience to a record 183 million, a rise of 20 million on the previous year.

    According to the annual review for BBC World Service, audiences rose in the Middle East, the wider Islamic world and Africa.

    BBC World Service on FM is available in 152 capital cities, up from 150 last year. The report says BBC’s international news websites attracted a record 763 million page impressions in March 2007, up from 546 million compared to March 2006. Around the world, there were a record 38.5 million online users in March 2007, up from 32.8 million a year ago.

    BBC Global News services – which include BBC World Service, the BBC World television channel and BBC international online news sites – attracted a record global weekly audience of over 233 million during 2006 – 2007.

    BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman says, “Audiences overall are going up in some of our biggest markets in Africa and Asia, including India, Pakistan and Nigeria. This is a significant achievement because these markets too are highly competitive and such large numbers are always vulnerable to rapid falls. But English language audiences for radio dropped back in parts of Africa, contributing to a decline from 42 million to 38 million in the global English radio total. Official discouragement of partnerships which would enable us to broadcast English programme material on any scale in Nigeria is a major obstacle.

    “In Bangladesh, troubled by political unrest, the weekly audience figure almost doubled in a year, demonstrating once again how listeners return to the BBC at times of crisis. In Afghanistan, the first nationwide survey showed that there were 10 million listeners a week, 60 per cent of the adult population.

    “The work of our technical teams enables BBC World Service to compete effectively in some of the world’s toughest environments. Five sites are now solar powered to keep them on the air independently of local supplies”.

    “It is clear that a tri-media approach, combining radio, television and online is essential if BBC World Service is to compete in the multi-platform digital age.” But it is a more mixed picture in other regions. The difficulties we can face as markets develop are apparent in Latin America and parts of Eastern Europe, such as Romania and Ukraine, where burgeoning choice has led to a decline in our audiences. In Russia, distribution problems in a difficult political climate have been a further setback, leading to the loss of FM services in Moscow and St Petersburg and a decline in listening to under one million. In China, poor access to BBC news content in what is now a bustling aggressively competitive market has resulted in a further loss of audience.

    “The silver lining is the success of new online partnerships in China, including one deal with a key national portal. They offer access to BBC educational material and 90 per cent of the traffic to BBC content in China now comes from these partner deals.

    “The worldwide growth in online audiences, led by the BBC’s international news site bbcnews.com, has steadied and it is recognised we need to build this audience further in the coming years. The spectacular growth rate of the early days of the internet is much harder to achieve now that most initial adopters of the technology have found us. As in China, we are building partnerships with major portals to showcase our work better and increase traffic.

    “Continued investment in technology will be necessary for us to compete in a world where the ability to find and share information and content is fundamental. In the most sophisticated markets, the generation growing up with social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace takes sharing video content for granted. We have taken significant steps this year with the launch of broadband video news in six languages and new sites for downloading content to mobile devices.”

    He added, “Everything from audio and video technology for reporters in the field to the way programmes are put together and distributed is now being digitised, giving us the flexibility to deliver programmes in new ways. The opening of the Production House of the Future at Bush House which is a digital production space is a first, showing the way forward for the whole of the BBC and other media organisations. Investment in production centres overseas has brought us closer to audiences. More than 30 per cent of BBC World Service’s production staff is now based in the countries to which it broadcasts.

    Preparations to launch BBC Arabic Television in the autumn of 2007 were on track and its staff will be the first part of BBC World Service to occupy the new Broadcasting House centre that we will eventually share with all the BBC’s domestic news operations. The go-ahead for a Farsi television service announced in October 2006, was very welcome, he said.

    “In this far-reaching transformation of our activities, one thing which is not changing is our commitment to traditional BBC values, starting with the quality of programmes. The past year has been one of further innovation in programme making, helping audiences to make sense of a world that is increasingly globalised and interconnected. Generation Next gave a voice to the under-18s who are often neglected in the mainstream media. India Rising offered a deep insight into winners and losers in this booming Asian economy. Business Daily shed new light on long-term trends taking place behind the world of work”.