English-language pay television channel
This article is about the English-language audio-visual international news and current affairs operations of the BBC. For the BBC's corporate division administering it, as well as the audio-only branding of the same, see
BBC World Service
.
This article is about the BBC's TV news channel available internationally. For the BBC's TV news channel available only in the UK, see
BBC News (TV channel)
.
Television channel
BBC News
(known as
BBC World News
until 2023) is an
international
English-language
pay television
channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd.? a subsidiary of
BBC Studios
?and operated by the
BBC News
division of the
BBC
. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, and other factual programmes; its programming is based out of studios in
London
,
Washington, D.C.
, and
Singapore
. As of April 2023, the channel largely operates as an international feed of the
BBC News channel
in the UK, sharing the majority of its schedule.
Launched on 11 March 1991 as
BBC World Service Television
outside Europe, its name was changed to
BBC World
on 16 January 1995 and to
BBC World News
on 21 April 2008 and again to
BBC News (International)
on 3 April 2023 after its consolidation with the domestic BBC News Channel. According to the BBC, the combined seven channels of the Global News operations have the largest audience
market share
among all of
its rivals
, with an estimated 99 million viewers weekly in 2016?2017, part of the estimated 121 million weekly audience of all its operations.
[1]
Unlike the BBC's domestic channels, it is funded by subscription and advertising revenues, and not by the
United Kingdom television licence
.
[2]
As such, the channel is not broadcast in the UK directly, although selected programmes and bulletins have been carried on the domestic BBC News channel (especially during the
overnight
hours), and vice versa (including domestic programmes such as
Click
and
HARDtalk
, and during
breaking news
and special events in the UK).
In April 2023, the BBC began to further consolidate the programming and talent of the two channels as part of a corporation-wide streamlining of operations, with both channels now using the BBC News branding. The international feed remains an advertising-supported service, but the two services are structured to use a common schedule with domestic
opt-outs
for UK-specific news coverage and programmes.
History
[
edit
]
The channel originally started as BBC World Service Television and was a commercial operation. The
British government
refused to fund the new television service using grant-in-aid. (
BBC World Service radio
was funded by a
grant-in-aid
from the
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
until 2014.) The channel started broadcasting on 11 March 1991, after two weeks of real-time pilots, initially as a half-hour bulletin once a day at 19:00 GMT.
On Thursday, 26 January 1995 at 19:00
GMT
, BBC World Service Television was split into two services:
- BBC World started broadcasting on Monday, 16 January 1995 at 19:00 GMT and became a 24-hour English free-to-air international news channel.
- BBC Prime
started broadcasting on Monday, 30 January 1995 at 19:00 GMT and became the BBC's light entertainment channel, later renamed
BBC Entertainment
.
BBC World's on-air design was changed significantly on 3 April 2000, bringing it closer to the look of its sister channel in the UK which was then known as BBC News 24, the on-air look of which had been redesigned in 1999.
[3]
The look of both channels was made up of red and cream and designed by Lambie-Nairn, with music based on a style described as 'drums and beeps' composed by
David Lowe
, a departure from the general orchestral nature of music used by other news programmes.
On 8 December 2003, a second makeover, using the same 'drums and beeps' style music but new graphics took place, although on a much smaller scale than that of 2000. The music was changed slightly, while the main colour scheme became black and red, with studios using frosted glass and white and red colours. Later in 2004, the channel's slogan became
Putting News First
, replacing
Demand a Broader View
.
On 21 April 2008, as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's overall news output and visual identity, the channel was rebranded as
BBC World News
. It later moved to the renovated studio vacated by BBC News 24 (now the BBC News Channel). New graphics were produced by the Lambie-Nairn agency and the music was reworked by David Lowe.
Move to Broadcasting House
[
edit
]
The channel relocated to
Broadcasting House
from its previous home at
Television Centre
on 14 January 2013. This was part of the move of BBC News and other audio and vision departments of the BBC into one building in Central London. Broadcasting House was refurbished for £1 billion. A new newsroom and several state-of-the-art studios were built.
[4]
Consolidation with the domestic BBC News channel
[
edit
]
On 26 May 2022, as part of planned cuts and streamlining across the broadcaster, the BBC announced plans for consolidation of the
domestic BBC News channel
in the UK with BBC World News. The domestic and international versions would share a larger amount of content while maintaining the ability for opt-outs when necessary.
[5]
[6]
[7]
The BBC promoted that the service would offer "new flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, and programmes commissioned for multiple platforms".
[8]
In preparation for the expansion, the BBC began to add additional staff to its
Washington, D.C.
bureau.
[8]
The first stage of these changes took effect on 3 April 2023, when the BBC World News channel changed its name to
BBC News
, and began to consolidate its on-air lineups and programming with the UK BBC News channel. This resulted in layoffs of about 50 employees, including presenters
David Eades
,
Joanna Gosling
, and
Tim Willcox
.
[9]
[10]
[11]
Despite the changes, the international feed of BBC News?which continues to be distributed by BBC Studios
[8]
?still
opts out
of specific programmes that are specific to UK audiences, such as simulcasts of
BBC One
news bulletins and
Newsnight
;
Deadline Hollywood
reported that in response to concerns over the arrangement by the telecom and broadcasting regulator
Ofcom
, BBC News was considering allowing for more UK-specific opt-outs.
[9]
Broadcasting
[
edit
]
Live news output originates from studios B, C and E in
Broadcasting House
with some recorded programming from Broadcasting House studios A and D and the BBC
Millbank
studio, as well as Manchester, Singapore and Washington, D.C. The BBC News newsroom is now part of the new consolidated BBC Newsroom in Broadcasting House along with BBC World Service and UK domestic news services.
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, the then-called BBC World News switched its broadcast to
16:9
format, initially in Europe on
Astra 1L satellite
,
[12]
and Eutelsat Hot Bird 6 satellite to other broadcast feeds in the Asian region from 20 January 2009. The channel ceased broadcasting on analogue satellite on 18 April 2006.
[13]
High-definition
[
edit
]
As a result of the move to Broadcasting House, BBC News gained high-definition studios and equipment to be able to broadcast in
high-definition
. On 5 August 2013, the international feed of BBC News was offered as a
High Definition
(HD) feed across the
Middle East
when it launched its international HD channel on the
Arab Satellite Communications Organization
. Arabsat was the BBC's first distribution partner in the Middle East to offer the channel in HD. On 1 April 2015, the then-called BBC World News Channel started broadcasting in high definition from the 11.229 GHz/V transponder on
Astra 1KR
at the
19.2°E
orbital position, available
free-to-air
to viewers with 60 cm dishes across Europe and coastal North Africa.
[14]
Worldwide
[
edit
]
BBC News claims to be watched by a weekly audience of 74 million in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.
[15]
BBC News is the most commonly watched as a
free-to-air
(FTA) channel. The channel is available in Europe and many parts of the world via subscription television providers in cable, satellite, IPTV and streaming platforms.
In the United States, the channel is available through providers
[16]
such as
Cablevision
,
Comcast
,
Spectrum
,
Verizon Fios
, and
U-verse TV
.
[17]
As of 2023, the American distribution and advertising sales for the channel are handled by
AMC Networks
, who are the minority partner for the BBC's entertainment channel
BBC America
.
[18]
[19]
In addition, BBC News syndicates its daytime and evening news programmes to
public television
stations throughout the US, originally maintaining a distribution partnership with
Garden City, New York
-based
WLIW
that lasted from 1998 until October 2008, when the BBC and WLIW mutually decided not to renew the contract.
[20]
[21]
[22]
BBC News subsequently entered into an agreement with Community Television of Southern California, Inc., in which
Los Angeles
PBS member station
KCET
(which was a
public
independent station
from 2011 to 2018) would take over distribution rights to
BBC World News America
(the KCET agreement has since been extended to encompass a half-hour simulcast of the 90-minute-long midday news bulletin
GMT
, which airs in the US as a morning show, and a weekly edition of the BBC news-magazine
Newsnight
).
[23]
[24]
[25]
Since June 2019, the distribution of the programme has been handled by Washington, D.C. PBS member
WETA
, which also produces other networked news and public affairs programmes such as the
PBS NewsHour
and
Washington Week
.
[26]
PBS separately began distributing another programme aired by the channel,
Beyond 100 Days
, as a tape-delayed late night broadcast on 2 January 2018, as an interim replacement for
Charlie Rose
. Unlike
GMT
and
BBC World News America
,
Beyond 100 Days
is distributed exclusively to PBS member stations as part of the service's base schedule.
[27]
[28]
China
banned
BBC News in 2021?although access had already been heavily restricted before then, and what was carried was censored with parts of the show being blacked out by censors operating live. It was banned owing to its coverage of the
persecution of Uyghur people in China
and in retaliation for
CGTN
's ban from the British market for violating national broadcast regulations.
[29]
Online
[
edit
]
The channel is available in the US as part of
Sling
's World News add-on package.
[30]
The international feed of BBC News was available on
LiveStation
from 2012 until the platform closed in 2016, along with the UK simulcast.
The channel was added to various
free ad-supported streaming television
(FAST) platforms in the United States, including
Pluto TV
,
Xumo
Play,
Samsung TV Plus
, and Sling Freestream, in March 2024. Apart from advertising, the FAST version of the channel is identical to the version already available through traditional U.S. cable and satellite providers.
[31]
United Kingdom
[
edit
]
The TV platforms in the UK (i.e. Freeview, Sky, BT TV, Freesat, Virgin) do not officially offer the international feed of BBC News as a standalone full-time channel because it carries and is funded by advertising (The 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 satellite systems, including
Astra
and
Hot Bird
and is available in selected London hotels. The TV platforms, however, do provide the
UK feed of BBC News channel
which carries much of the same programming. The international feed of BBC News can also be viewed in the public areas of Broadcasting House (in the lobby and cafe).
However, some programmes are officially available to UK audiences through the channel's UK feed. Such programmes air on the BBC's domestic channels, and some are available on demand on the BBC's iPlayer. From 00:00 to 05:00 UK time, the top-of-the-hour news bulletins are broadcast on both the UK and international feeds of the channel. At 01:30 on weekdays,
Asia Business Report
and
Sport Today
also air on both channels. There is a simulcast of the 05:00 UK edition of
The Briefing
and
Business Briefing
on
BBC One
and the
BBC News channel
. This programme was previously branded as
The World Today
(later a generic BBC World News bulletin) and
World Business Report
respectively. At 08:30 UK time,
Worklife
airs on the BBC News Channel. BBC News also produces a version of
Outside Source
at 21:00 UK time Monday-Thursday (seen on the BBC News Channel),
World News Today
at 19:00 Monday-Friday (seen on BBC Four), and 21:00 Friday-Sunday (seen on the BBC News Channel).
World News Today
replaced
The World
, which had been broadcast as a simulcast on BBC Four between 2002 and 2007.
The
COVID-19 pandemic
saw an increase of simulcasts between BBC News and BBC World News with simulcasting now running through the morning (10 am to 11 am) also shared with BBC Two, and the evening (7 pm to 8 pm & 9 pm to 10 pm) The additional simulcasting was made permanent in August 2020. Consequently, the two channels now simulcast each day from 10:00 to 11:00 and on weekdays from 19:00 to 06:00, apart from the
BBC News at Ten
and for an hour at 20:00, and between 21:00 to 06:00, apart from the evening
BBC One
bulletin, over the weekend.
[32]
The BBC implemented a wider consolidation of the networks' lineups in April 2023.
[9]
Programming
[
edit
]
Live news programmes:
[33]
- BBC News
? International news.
- BBC World News America
? News from the United States and around the world, live from the BBC's Washington DC bureau.
- The Context
with
Christian Fraser
in London reports on international news, with a focus on the UK, Europe and the US (previously called
100 Days
,
100 Days +
,
Beyond 100 Days
and
BBC News with Katy and Christian
).
- Focus on Africa
? BBC News' flagship African news programme, with news, business and sport from the continent.
- Newsday
? Live from Singapore, news and analysis from both an Asian and global perspective.
- Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
- Interviews and analysis of the week's big news from the UK and around the world, including interviews with key politicians and personalities from all walks of life.
- Verified Live
- Analysing and
fact-checking
the truth behind the news based on available data and facts.
- BBC News Now
- fast-moving breaking news with live interviews and reactions.
- The World Today
- roundups and a brief look at global news from around the world every day.
Live business and sports programmes:
Pre-recorded programmes:
- Click
? Technology programme aimed at non-technical audiences.
- HARDtalk
? In-depth interviews with personalities from all walks of life.
- Newsnight
? Weekly highlights from the daily domestic news programme.
- Our World
? Documentaries.
- Panorama
? Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects.
- Reporters
? Weekly reports from the BBC's correspondents.
- Talking Movies
- The Travel Show
Former programmes:
BBC News bulletins
[
edit
]
Half-hour
BBC News
bulletins are made available to
PBS
stations in the US through Los Angeles'
KCET
, a non-commercial independent public television station which has been separate from PBS since the beginning of 2011 due to a rights fee dispute (it returned to being a minor PBS member station in 2019 after a merger with the major PBS member station in the market). 80 to 90% of Americans can receive the bulletins, with PBS member stations having scheduling discretion. The programme is broadcast on several PBS stations in markets such as New York City and
Washington DC
.
On PBS stations,
BBC News
is not broadcast with traditional commercials (the breaks are filled with news stories) but omits the
Met Office
international
weather forecast
at the end of the programme, replacing it with underwriting announcements. The PBS broadcasts are
tape-delayed
on some stations.
BBC America
formerly aired a three-hour block of BBC News programmes from 05:00 to 08:00 on weekdays, until the stabilisation of the network's carriage in the United States. Met Office forecasts were removed, and it was broadcast with advertisements.
Many airlines from across the world also play pre-recorded extracts of BBC News, have text headlines from it or have a full bulletin available on the in-flight entertainment systems.
Previous bulletins
[
edit
]
Another BBC World News programme, the hour-long
BBC World News America
, aired on BBC America at 19:00
ET
. A second broadcast at 22:00 ET ended in 2010, when BBC America introduced a second feed for the western time zones of the US on 18 February 2011, it was announced that
BBC World News America
would no longer be broadcast on BBC America and would instead be broadcast only on BBC World and local
PBS
stations in the US as a 30-minute programme.
[35]
The channel also produced short bulletins for public transport services in Singapore and Hong Kong:
These broadcasts began with the statement: "Welcome to BBC World News on board the
Singapore Mass Rapid Transit
and
Hong Kong
MTR
". The short bulletin was updated twice a day and has since been replaced by a similar programme from
Mediacorp
's
CNA
.
Travellers on the
Heathrow Express
rail service between
London Paddington
and
Heathrow Airport
could watch a summary of the headlines from BBC World News on the LCD screens provided.
News presenters
[
edit
]
Former presenters
[
edit
]
Presentation
[
edit
]
BBC News is, for the most part, the same channel around the world; the
commercials
are intended to be the only differences. However, there are some regional programming variations. For example, several programmes are made exclusively for regional viewings, such as the Indian feeds, and
The Record Europe
, which is only broadcast in Europe. Also, the weather forecasts focus more on the area the viewer is watching from.
On most feeds of BBC News, when no commercials are 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
television advertisement
. This is the case on the broadband versions of BBC News, and on versions of BBC News aired in the US on
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.
[
clarification needed
]
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 the YouTube channel, and the 15-second weather/time/coming-up screens each feature their theme. The colour theme was updated following the relaunch of the channel in April 2008.
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. The new countdown keeps the same music, but with Chameleon-style branding and a clock relocated to the middle from the bottom right corner,
[36]
similar in style to that of
BBC Alba
. The countdown can range from 45 seconds to as little as 3 seconds.
Awards
[
edit
]
The then-called BBC World News was named
Best International News Channel
at the
Association for International Broadcasting
Awards in November 2006.
[37]
It won a
Peabody Award
in 2007 for
White Horse Village
[38]
and another in 2009 for
Where Giving Life is a Death Sentence.
[39]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"BBC's global audience rises to 372m"
(Press release). BBC. 25 May 2017
. Retrieved
31 July
2017
.
- ^
"About BBC World News TV"
.
BBC News
. 12 February 2021.
- ^
"BBC World Unveils A New Look and a New Schedule ? Scoop News"
(Press release). 3 April 2000
. Retrieved
23 June
2016
.
- ^
Sabbagh, Dan (7 September 2012).
"The news from the BBC: its £1bn new base is finally coming on air"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
26 December
2012
.
- ^
"BBC to move CBBC and BBC Four online"
.
BBC News
. 26 May 2022
. Retrieved
26 May
2022
.
- ^
Lodderhose, Diana (26 May 2022).
"BBC To Close CBBC & BBC Four As Linear Channels; 1,000 Jobs At Risk As Public Broadcaster Begins Its "Digital First" Push"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
26 May
2022
.
- ^
"Plan to deliver a digital first BBC"
.
www.bbc.co.uk
. 26 May 2022
. Retrieved
26 May
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Yossman, K.J. (14 July 2022).
"BBC Looking for Washington D.C. Based Talent as It Launches Fresh Global News Network"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
16 July
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Kanter, Jake (28 March 2023).
"BBC News Channel To Bench Seasoned Presenters From Next Week As Output Is Relaunched"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
5 April
2023
.
- ^
"BBC News channel announces chief presenter line-up for revamp"
.
BBC News
. 2 February 2023
. Retrieved
5 April
2023
.
- ^
Kanter, Jake (11 January 2023).
"BBC News Anchor Exodus: Three Presenters Quit Ahead Of Divisive Channel Merger"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
5 April
2023
.
- ^
"BBC World News goes widescreen"
. YouTube. 13 January 2009.
Archived
from the original on 11 December 2021
. Retrieved
22 August
2010
.
- ^
"2006 News"
. 27 December 2009. Archived from
the original
on 27 December 2009.
- ^
"BBC World News launches HD service in Europe"
. BBC Media Centre. 1 April 2015
. Retrieved
29 April
2015
.
- ^
"About BBC World News TV"
.
BBC News
. 7 April 2011
. Retrieved
11 July
2013
.
- ^
"Where and how to watch BBC News"
.
BBC News
. 17 August 2011
. Retrieved
11 July
2013
.
- ^
"BBC World News launches on AT&T U-verse"
(Press release). BBC. 28 February 2014
. Retrieved
27 February
2015
.
- ^
"AMC Buys Half of BBC America to Bolster Pay-TV Leverage"
.
Bloomberg L.P
. New York
. Retrieved
18 December
2016
.
- ^
Lieberman, David (23 October 2014).
"AMC Networks Pays $200M For 49.9% Of BBC America"
.
Deadline.com
. Retrieved
18 December
2016
.
- ^
Mifflin, Lawrie (30 July 1998).
"Long Island PBS Channel To Get Live BBC Newscasts"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
.
- ^
McNally, Paul (30 April 2008).
"BBC World News signs new US distributor"
.
CampaignUS
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
.
- ^
Jensen, Elizabeth (2 October 2002).
"BBC Tailors Its News Broadcast"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
.
- ^
"KCET Expands Audience Reach for 'BBC World News' With Station Upgrades and Improved Time Periods; Cleared in Top 30 Markets With Six New Stations Added to Line-Up"
(Press release).
BBC
. 24 September 2008. Archived from
the original
on 12 June 2018
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
– via
BusinessWire
.
- ^
"New-Look 'BBC World News' Uses Unrivaled News-gathering Resources to Bring PBS Audiences News from around the World"
(Press release). BBC. 1 October 2008. Archived from
the original
on 12 June 2018
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
– via BusinessWire.
- ^
"KCET Picks Up 'BBC World News' Distribution From WLIW"
.
TVWeek
. 28 April 2008
. Retrieved
24 May
2017
.
- ^
"BBC shifts distribution of news shows to WETA"
.
Current
. 29 May 2019
. Retrieved
9 June
2019
.
- ^
"PBS and BBC Announce "Beyond 100 Days" Coming to PBS in New Late-Night Timeslot"
(Press release).
PBS
. 19 December 2017
. Retrieved
11 June
2018
.
- ^
Holloway, Daniel (19 December 2017).
"BBC's 'Beyond 100 Days' Takes Charlie Rose's Former PBS Slot"
.
Variety
. Los Angeles
. Retrieved
11 June
2018
.
- ^
Tiezzi, Shannon (13 February 2021).
"China Bans BBC World News Over Xinjiang Reporting"
.
The Diplomat
. Washington DC
. Retrieved
13 February
2021
.
- ^
"BBC America and BBC World News now on Sling TV"
.
Sling
. Archived from
the original
on 2 July 2016
. Retrieved
7 August
2016
.
- ^
Hill, Michael P. (13 March 2024).
"BBC News launching FAST offering"
.
NewscastStudio
. Retrieved
13 March
2024
.
- ^
"BBC News sets out update on modernisation plans"
.
bbc.com
.
- ^
BBC.
"Programmes ? BBC World News"
. BBC.
- ^
"The Briefing ? BBC News"
.
BBC
.
- ^
Gibbons, Kent (18 February 2011).
"
' BBC World News America' Shifts To BBC World News"
.
Multichannel News
. Washington DC. Archived from
the original
on 27 September 2012.
- ^
Newscast Studio. 2023. "BBC News streamlines output with the merger of news channels". Accessed April 18, 2023.
https://www.newscaststudio.com/2023/04/06/bbc-news-streamlines-output-with-merger-of-news-channels/
- ^
"Key Dates"
. BBC World News
. Retrieved
22 August
2010
.
- ^
"2007 Peabody Awards: White Horse Village (BBC America)"
.
University of Georgia
. Archived from
the original
on 27 January 2015.
- ^
"2009 Peabody Awards: Where Giving Life is a Death Sentence (BBC America)"
.
University of Georgia
. Archived from
the original
on 12 September 2014.
External links
[
edit
]
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