MUMBAI: BBC World chairman Michael Grade has announced that BBC World News, the international news and information channel, will be launched in the US. The channel will be available as part of Real’s SuperPass broadband service.
In a statement issued, the agreement with RealNetworks is BBC World’s first step to giving US audiences a taste of the BBC World News schedule and will be available to RealNetworks’ subscribers. A 14-day free trial is available at www.real.com. Selected BBC World News programming is already broadcast in around 86 million US homes daily on PBS, and at breakfast-time and at 1800 ET on BBC America.
BBC World News is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and reaches 270 million households (127 million 24-hour homes).
BBC World’s Editorial director, Sian Kevill says: "Independent research has shown a 40 per cent increase in the US audience demand for international news recently. BBC World News can deliver this, and has a worldwide reputation for impartial and accurate reporting, and this is at the core of what our teams do to ensure we bring the stories behind the headlines to our audience.”
"We are extremely pleased to bring BBC World News to our US subscribers," adds RealNetworks Director international video services Douglas Glen. "This extension of our long-standing partnership in Europe demonstrates the great demand for timely, relevant and global news at your fingertips."
“We are thrilled with the opportunity to offer our US SuperPass members the highly regarded coverage of BBC World News,” said Dan Sheeran, Senior Vice President, Music & Video, RealNetworks. “Our members will now have access to live coverage of world events and programming 24/7.”
BBC World’s director of distribution and business development Jeff Hazell says: "We have received great interest from a number of US operators looking to take the BBC World News channel on a full-time basis. Our partnership with RealNetworks in the US is a first for BBC World News and we believe that it will generate further audience demand for the channel and bring us closer to launching a 24-hour offer on US cable, satellite and other digital platforms in the United States.”
