Expanded distribution in the US for BBC World News
This week viewers to BBC World News have been watching a series of reports focusing on the Arab uprisings, two years after they first began. Correspondents have been in Damascus, Tunis, Cairo, the Syria-Lebanon border and elsewhere. Their eyewitness TV reporting is accompanied by further explanation and analysis on our website, bbc.com/news. These are expert journalists, with years of experience and knowledge, living the story on behalf of the audience. They demonstrate our commitment to reporting the world, and bringing clarity to complex events.
Until now, however, viewers in the world's biggest TV market, the US, have found it hard to access BBC reporting of this kind. The market is saturated with TV channels, but for the past couple of years we've been very focused on securing widespread carriage on the distribution systems which bring TV into most homes.
So today the BBC is delighted to announce we have agreed to a partnership with the US cable giant - Time Warner Cable - and through this and other deals, a further 10 million homes in the US will have access to BBC World News 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This means by the end of this year we will be available in 25 million homes, including those in most of the major markets - New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston. There is still some way to go before we can say we have reached everyone - but 2012 has been a year of significant breakthroughs for us in the US.
The BBC is already well-known in America through its partnerships with public radio, through the success of our website BBC.com/news, and because of our nightly broadcast on public television fronted by Katty Kay. We believe our brand of high-quality, intelligent and non-partisan journalism has something to offer US audiences, and we're determined to make access to our services as simple as possible.
The timing could not be better. We're just a few weeks away from the first broadcasts of BBC World News from our brand new headquarters in central London. Three new studios, a big investment in production and journalism, and working more closely with BBC journalists working in English and 27 other languages - it's more than just a new home, it's a new start. We're delighted to share that even more widely.
Richard Porter is controller of English at BBC Global News
Comment number 1.
At 19:34 14th Dec 2012, paulmerhaba wrote:The advertising revenue must be phenomenal, any chance of a cut in the licence fee?
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Comment number 2.
At 02:02 15th Dec 2012, lkmi wrote:Hooray! Thank you.
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Comment number 3.
At 11:14 15th Dec 2012, BluesBerry wrote:Congratulations.
It's too bad, in regards to the Arab Spring, it has mostly turned to autumn, and may be headed for a long cold winter of discontent.
I hope it works out to a "new" start for BBC - no more scandals, objectivity, and more effort to capture both sides.
Good luck and best wishes.
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Comment number 4.
At 11:45 15th Dec 2012, Death and Taxes wrote:Arab Uprising? Do you mean 'Arab Spring' or is that doubleplus ungood now? 'Spring' perhaps too cuddly a word for the massacres taking place?
You know if you reported honestly (yes I know, I know) you wouldn't need to keep swapping words around. Whatever next 'Global Warming' to become 'Climate Change' perhaps?
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Comment number 5.
At 18:19 15th Dec 2012, JunkkMale wrote:'Their eyewitness TV reporting is accompanied by further explanation and analysis on our website'
Such 'explanation' and 'analysis' often going well beyond reporting. Not always in a manner that inspires confidence in professional integrity.
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Comment number 6.
At 18:31 15th Dec 2012, JunkkMale wrote:'These are expert journalists, with years of experience and knowledge, living the story on behalf of the audience.
Again, such expertise being lived... on behalf of others... can be less of a blessing when delivery fails to match rhetoric.
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Comment number 7.
At 18:45 15th Dec 2012, JunkkMale wrote:'They demonstrate our commitment to reporting the world, and bringing clarity to complex events.'
Telling people what something is only has value if it is demonstrably borne out in fact.
The people of America do not know what a treat awaits them when such clarity is uniquely brought to their screens.
At least they have a choice.
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Comment number 8.
At 18:56 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 9.
At 19:06 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 10.
At 19:16 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 11.
At 19:53 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 12.
At 20:03 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 13.
At 20:17 15th Dec 2012, iDeb8 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 14.
At 14:58 16th Dec 2012, ProfPhoenix wrote:As the BBC is pro Democrat, actively supports Obama, rubbishes Republicans, I suggest you save money and leave the propaganda to the staff in the White House. Why waste our Licence money repeating the US Government's position without criticism or analysis
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Comment number 15.
At 17:25 16th Dec 2012, All for All wrote:This news is most welcome, for the race to set the pace.
Focus on major cities is inevitable, with a Cable deal, but access to "high quality, intelligent and non-partisan journalism has something to offer US audiences" even more amongst the rural poor with restricted internet access.
Gains in advertising revenue should subsidise further extension.
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Comment number 16.
At 07:11 17th Dec 2012, AllenT2 wrote:It boggles the mind that American authorities even allowa foreign government subsidized channel from operating in the country, and especially one delivering news that is biased and anti-American.
It doesn't matter anyway, the truth will eventually be made clear to those new "10 million" American viewers, should they choose to even subscribe to it in the first place.
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Comment number 17.
At 09:01 17th Dec 2012, Pratish wrote:@1 paulmerhaba - cut in the license fee... you must be dreaming! LOL
Good news in any case given that I travel to the US a fair bit these days. Thanks BBC
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