BBC World News

BBC World News
BBC World News white.png
BBC World News logo
Launched 11 March 1991
Owned by BBC
Picture format 16:9 SDTV
Audience share Available in:
282 million homes
1.6 million hotel rooms
57 cruise ships
42 airlines
34 mobile phone platforms
78 million viewers per week (June 2008, [1])
Slogan This is only BBC World, Television BBC International News Channel
(1995–1999)
With news and informations 24 hours today
(1999–2003)
Putting News First
(2003–2008)
International News Television
(2008 – present)[2]
Country United Kingdom (for external consumption only)
Language English
Broadcast area Worldwide (except most of the United States)
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Formerly called BBC World Service Television
(1991–1995)
BBC World
(1995–2008)
Sister channel(s) BBC News
Website BBCWorldNews.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital, in Italy LCN 44
Satellite
Hot Bird 6 12597 V / 27500 / 3/4
Hispasat 1C 12012 V / 27500 / 3/4
Astra 1L 11597 V / 22000 / 5/6
Thor 2 11325 H / 24500 / 7/8
Badr 4 12073 H / 27500 / 3/4
Nilesat 101 11766 H / 27500 / 3/4
SKY Italia (Italy) Channel 520
HiTV (Nigeria) Channel 03
Cyfrowy Polsat Channel 134
Indovision (Indonesia) Channel 332
Digital+ (Spain) Channel 75
Bell TV (Canada) Channel 510
Shaw Direct (Canada) Channel 501
Astro Malaysia Channel 512
Tata Sky (India) Channel 536
Dialog TV (Sri Lanka) Channel 2
TrueVisions (Thailand) Channel 72
SKY Network Television (New Zealand) Channel 093
SelecTV (Australia) Channel 101
TVB Pay Vision Channel 62
SkyLife (South Korea) Channel 528
CanalSat (France) Channel 58
Digiturk (Turkey) Channel 122
Dream Channel 21
Foxtel (Australia) Channel 649
MEO (Portugal) Channel 204
SKY Latin America Channel 631 (Mexico)
Channel 99 (Brazil)
DStv (South Africa) Channel 400
TV Vlaanderen Digitaal (Belgium) Channel 51
Cable
UPC Ireland Channel 206
Vidéotron
(Canada)
Channel 147
StarHub TV (Singapore) Channel 13
Rogers Cable (Canada) Channels 37 and 194 Digital (Analogue is channel 45)
Shaw TV (Canada) Channels Vary
Cable TV (Hong Kong) Channel 75
HiTV (Nigeria) Channel 3
Global Destiny (Philippines) Channel 27
SkyCable (Philippines) Channel 29
OneLink Communications (San Juan, Puerto Rico) Channel 74
TelstraClear InHomeTV (New Zealand) Channel 93
First Media
(Indonesia)
Channel 230
Parasat Cable TV
(Philippines)
Channel 15
TrueVisions (Thailand) Channel 43
Foxtel Digital (Australia) Channel 606
Kabel Deutschland (Germany) Channel 838
RCS&RDS (Romania) Channel 53
UPC Romania Channel 424
TV di FASTWEB (Italy) Channel 520
TrueVisions Channel 72
IPTV
TV di FASTWEB (Italy) Channel 88
FreeBox TV (France)
TELUS TV (Canada) Channel 96
now TV (Hong Kong) Channel 320
MEO (Portugal) Channel 204
Internet television
Livestation (Free, 502 Kbit/s)

BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel and any news channel in the world. Founded in 11 March 1991 as BBC World Service Television outside Europe (the name was changed to BBC World in 1994 and to BBC World News in 2008), it broadcasts for 24 hours with programming including BBC News bulletins, documentaries, lifestyle programmes and interviews. Its main global competitor is CNN International, though it also competes with other major news broadcasting companies. It employs more correspondents and reporters than any other news channel and has more international bureaus.

The channel is transmitted by Red Bee Media from their network centre at the Broadcast Centre within the BBC Media Village, part of the BBC White City, in White City, west London. All news output originates from studio N8 in the nearby Television Centre. The BBC World News newsroom is part of the BBC's Global News Hub, set up in the summer of 1994. The BBC World News newsroom provides output throughout the day. From 0100–0500 the channel BBC News is also based in this studio.

Previously, the channel was broadcast in 4:3, with the news output fitted into a 14:9 frame for both digital and analogue broadcasting, resulting in black bands at the top and bottom of the screen. On 13 January 2009 at 09:57 GMT, BBC World News switched its broadcast to 16:9 format, initially in the European Region through the Astra 1L satellite[3], and Eutelsat Hot Bird 6 satellite but to other feeds broadcast in the Asian region from 20 January 2009.

Unlike the BBC's domestic channels, BBC World News is not funded by a license fee, instead, it is funded commercially by advertising.

BBC World News was named Best International News Channel at the Association for International Broadcasting Awards in November 2006.[4]

On 1 January 2008 the channel changed its name from BBC World to BBC World News as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's news output, including a new visual identity. The channel later moved into the renovated former studio of the BBC News channel.

Contents

History

The channel originally launched as BBC World Service Television, though unlike BBC World Service radio which has always been government funded, the British government refused to extend the Foreign Office grant-in-aid. It was launched on 11 March 1991, after two weeks of real time pilots, initially as a half-hour bulletin once a day at 1900 GMT. The programme editor was Johan "John" Ramsland. The original picture editing team consisted of Bob Scholes, Peter Hodge & Mike Casey.

In 1 January 1994 BBC World Service Television split into two stations: BBC Prime-an encrypted entertainment channel requiring subscription, and the free to air BBC World-concentrating on news and current affairs. Since 1994, the service has gone through several branding changes. From 1994 to 1997, the channel used few graphics to display the name of the channel, with the actual news studio modelled on that used for BBC News in the United Kingdom.

As part of the major relaunch of the image of the BBC including a new logo for the corporation in 4 October 1997, the channel received its first main refresh on 9 November 1997, the day BBC News 24 was launched. Various fictional flags with some real were used. The idents were computer generated and developed by the Lambie-Nairn design agency.

Another large relaunch for BBC News came in 1999 with all output, both in the UK and for BBC World globally having a uniform look made up of red and cream. Music based on a style described as 'drums and beeps' was introduced, composed by David Lowe, a departure from the general orchestral versions of other news programmes.

In 2003 a second makeover, using the same 'drums and beeps' style music but new graphics took place, although on a much smaller scale to that of 1999. The music was changed slightly while the main colour scheme became black and red, with studios using a frosted glass, white and red design for colourings. Later in 2004 the channel's slogan became Putting News First, replacing Demand a Broader View.

In 2008 the channel was renamed BBC World News. New graphics were produced by the Lambie-Nairn design agency, accompanied with reworked music from David Lowe.

Availability

BBC World News is most commonly watched as an free-to-air (FTA) Channel. The channel is available FTA in Italy, via digital terrestrial television, and in all parts of Europe and many parts of the world FTA via satellite. (It was also available via terrestrial FTA in Berlin from c. 2000 to March 2007). Although not officially available in the UK it is available to people who point their satellite dishes at Astra 19.2°E, Hot Bird and Thor, the Middle East Feed is also available to UK residents through Badr/Arabsat. In most of the world, it is carried on nearly all satellite and cable platforms.

BBC World News is available online through the website of Dong-a Ilbo, a Korean newspaper,[5] but this stream cannot necessarily be viewed from all countries (inaccessible from the USA as of October 2007).

It is also available online through the subscription service RealPlayer Plus, but not in the US, UK or Canada. In Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates it is additionally available as a subscription mobile phone service, having also been available as a terrestrial channel.

Outside of the United States and the United Kingdom, the channel can be watched for free as a live Internet stream through Livestation. Internet users with IP addresses that appear to be from the United States or the United Kingdom are prevented from streaming the channel, as Livestation does not have rights to provide this service to users in these countries.

A daily version of its news bulletins are also rebroadcast on many FTA terrestrial channels like in New Zealand, where it is carried overnight on TV ONE, and in Trinidad and Tobago where it is carried overnight on TV6.

In Europe, analogue satellite broadcasting via Hot Bird 6 ceased on 18 April 2006 at midday, although its digital free-to-air signal is replicated on Hot Bird 6, Hot Bird 7A, Thor 2 and on Astra 1KR.

It is also available 24/7 in Australia on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television as well as the Telstra NextG phone network. In New Zealand, it is also broadcast via satellite on SKY Network Television and via cable on TelstraClear.

In Asia, it was originally carried on STAR TV, the pan-Asian satellite television service based in Hong Kong, which was later acquired by Rupert Murdoch, but switched to PanAmSat in 1994. It is also available on Astro in Malaysia, originally part of the Astro News channel lineup before being a stand alone channel in 2002. In India it was FTA till 15 June 2006 but is now a pay channel.

BBC World News has been available in Africa on DStv since late 1995, and its bulletins have also been rebroadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) terrestrial channels in South Africa. In 1996, it became available in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In Canada, the channel is available on Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite services, as well as on most digital cable services. Shaw Cable and Rogers Cable carry the channel as part of their analogue cable packages.[6] The Canadian news channel CBC Newsworld also carries a BBC World newscast from 6 to 6:30 p.m. daily.

BBC World News is not widely available on cable/satellite services in the United States, but a 2006 agreement with Discovery Networks (which is a partner in BBC America) announced it would seek distribution for the channel. American viewers used to be able to watch selected BBC World bulletins on BBC America and over 200 PBS stations, but on 4 April 2009, BBC World News was dropped from BBC America.[7] It was also reported in the New York Times in April 2008,[8] that some PBS stations have dropped BBC World News after being told by BBC executives that the BBC had made it "pretty clear that the future of the BBC was not intertwined with public broadcasting."[8]

Since BBC World News's inception in 1995, the BBC sought carriage for the channel on US cable and satellite systems. It took 11 years for a US distribution deal to be signed, a deal with Discovery Communications that was announced on 25 January 2006. In September 2006, Cablevision in the New York City metropolitan area agreed to retransmit the channel and was the first company to carry BBC World News. The channel is part of Cablevision's iO Digital Cable service, channel 104.

BBC World News on other cable systems

Verizon FiOS: Channel 107 (All regions)

Cox Communications: Channel 252 (Northern Virginia)

Grande Communications: Channel 122 (Texas)

Western Kentucky TV (WKTV) Channel 136

United Kingdom

The channel is not officially available as a stand-alone, full-time channel in the United Kingdom, on the grounds that it carries and is funded by advertising (BBC's domestic channels are funded by a television licence fee which households and establishments that want to watch television programmes as they are being broadcast must pay), although it can be easily received due to its free-to-air status on many European satellites. The BBC inserts UK news summaries and weather forecasts in lieu of commercial breaks for any programme simulcast on BBC News Channel and BBC One.

However there is a simulcast of the 0500UK edition of BBC World News on BBC One and the BBC News channel, followed by an edition of World Business Report. This programme was previously branded as The World Today.

On weekdays BBC World News also produces a version of World News Today at 1900 British Time. The first half hour of this programme can be seen in the UK on BBC Four. The edition of the programme replaced The World, which had been broadcast as a simulcast on the channel between 2002 and 2007.

The first half hour of BBC World News America is time shifted and shown at 0030 British Time on the BBC News channel.

From 0100 British Time until BBC World News at 0500, the two channels simulcast and the half hour bulletins are branded simply BBC News. Headlines shown on these bulletins at the bottom of the hour are cut short on BBC World News as UK stories are in-line to be presented on the domestic service. Programmes differ at the bottom of the half-hour. The overnight simulcast is often also broadcast on BBC One or BBC Two.

Because BBC World News is available on several European satellite systems 'free-to-air', including Astra and Hotbird, the channel is 'available' to anyone in the United Kingdom who sets up their own dish to point at one of these satellites.

Programming

Live news programmes:

Other live programmes:

Pre-recorded programmes include:

BBC World News

The BBC World News studio is situated next to the main newsroom within BBC Television Centre in West London

Half-hour BBC World News bulletins are made available to PBS stations in the United States through KCET in California. 80 to 90% of Americans are able to receive them, though broadcast times vary between different localities, with it airing on several PBS stations in markets such as New York City and Washington, D.C..

On PBS stations, BBC World News does not appear with commercials (the breaks are replaced with news stories) but omits the Met Office international weather forecast at the end, replacing it with underwriting announcements. The PBS airings are tape-delayed on some stations.

BBC America airs a 3-hour block of BBC World News coverage from 6.00 am to 9.00 am on weekdays, and once on weekend mornings. Met Office forecasts are removed, and is broadcasted with advertisements. Another BBC World News programme, BBC World News America, airs on BBC America twice each evening.

BBC World News bulletins also appear on CBC News Network in Canada.

Travellers on the Heathrow Express rail service from London Paddington to London Heathrow Airport are also treated to a specially-recorded BBC World News bulletin—introduced with a namecheck of "Welcome to BBC World News onboard the Heathrow Express"—during the fifteen minute journey. This short bulletin is updated twice a day, and is shown in both classes on LCD televisions throughout the train.

Many airlines from across the world also play pre-recorded extracts of the BBC World News, have text headlines from it or have a full bulletin available on the in-flight entertainment systems. Airlines with BBC World News include Emirates Airline, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and United Airlines. Travellers can watch the bulletins on Channel 1 shortly after take-off on British Airways flights from the United Kingdom. Air France also broadcasts the full bulletin instead of France 2 News, on flights operated from London-Heathrow and Los Angeles (and New York–JFK by summer 2009).[9]

Presenters

News Presenters

George Alagiah (Mon-Thu) and Stephen Sackur (Fri) present GMT, Mishal Husain presents Impact Asia, Nik Gowing presents The Hub, Zeinab Badawi (Mon, Thu-Fri), Kirsty Lang (Tue-Wed) and Lyse Doucet (Fri) present World News Today, Tanya Beckett (Mon-Thu) and Jamie Robertson (Fri) present Business Edition and Matt Frei (Mon-Thu) and Katty Kay (Fri) present BBC World News America.

BBC World News presenters include Jonathan Charles, Martine Croxall, Martine Dennis, Peter Dobbie, Juliet Dunlop, David Eades, Mike Embley, Karin Giannone, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Lucy Hockings, Owen Thomas, Tim Willcox and Alastair Yates. Other occasional presenters include Ros Atkins, James Dagwell, Komla Dumor, Pooneh Ghoddoosi, Jannat Jalil, Deborah Mackenzie, Kasia Madera, Adnan Nawaz and Nisha Pillai.

Business Presenters

Business presenters include Tanya Beckett, Sally Bundock, Sally Eden, Juliette Foster, Aaron Heslehurst and Jamie Robertson. Rico Hizon and Sharanjit Leyl present Asia Business Report and Asia Today from Singapore.

Sport Presenters

Sports presenters include Mike Bushell, Amanda Davies, Sean Fletcher, Karthi Gnanasegaram, Matt Gooderick, Amelia Harris, Celina Hinchcliffe, Sonja McLaughlan, Adnan Nawaz, Sarah Stirk and Sue Thearle.

Weather Presenters

Weather presenters include Philip Avery, Darren Bett, Daniel Corbett, Alex Deakin, Liam Dutton, Chris Fawkes, Peter Gibbs, John Hammond, Sarah Keith-Lucas, Simon King, Louise Lear, Rob McElwee, Nick Miller, Susan Powell, Nina Ridge, Tomasz Schafernaker, Matt Taylor, Laura Tobin, Helen Willetts and Jay Wynne.

Former Presenters

Presenters who have previously appeared on the channel include Samira Ahmed (now with Channel 4 News), Lindsey Brancher, Tony Campion, Peter Coe, Stephen Cole (now with Al Jazeera English), Dharshini David (now with Sky News UK), Maya Even, Adrian Finighan (now with CNN International), Liz George (gone to CNN International and is now freelancing), Jake Lynch, Donald MacCormick, Anita McNaught (now with Al Jazeera English), Keshini Navaratnam, Liz Pike, Richard Quest (now with CNN International) and Manisha Tank (now with CNN International).

Presentation

Variation

The current breakfiller.

BBC World News is, for the most part, the same channel all over the world; the commercials are limited to be its only differences. However, there are some regional programming variations. For example, a number of programmes are made exclusively for regional viewings, such as Indian feeds, and The Record Europe, which is only broadcast in Europe. In addition, the Asia Business Report from Singapore is only aired in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. The rest of the world sees the World Business Report (World Business Report is shown in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, but are on at different times depending on the country. Also, Asia Business Report airs at 0130 BST worldwide.)

On most feeds of BBC World News, when there are no commercials being inserted by the cable or satellite provider similar to other channels, the break filler shows promotions for upcoming programmes on the channel. During BBC News, a news story that has not been promoted airs during what would be the commercial break. This is the case on the broadband versions of BBC World News, and on versions of BBC World News aired in the United States on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations. However, there are some global commercials and sponsorships which air throughout the network.

On 11 September 2007, the break filler was redesigned and now more closely resembles previous versions. The promotional videos now fill the entire screen and are interspersed with news and market updates, schedules, and other information. There is also no longer a unifying music composition. Instead, each 20 second promotional video uses music selected from a handful of 'themes', which have some unifying musical characteristics. The information screens, such as the 10 second plug for the website or YouTube channel, and the 15 second weather/time/coming up screens each feature their own 'theme'. The colour theme was updated following the relaunch of the channel in April 2008.

The countdown shown in 2008.

Countdown sequence

Since its inception, and more so since its extensive association with the BBC News channel, the countdown to the hourly news bulletin has been a feature of the channel's presentation, accompanied by music composed by David Lowe.

The current style of countdown features reporters and technical staff in many different locations working to bring news stories to air. As with sister channel BBC News, the countdown concludes with the channel logo.

References

Competitors

External links