BBC World and Prime

Unlike the BBC's television and radio services in the United Kingdom (known as the "Home Services"), BBC WORLD, and other BBC services broadcast around the world with the exception of BBC World Service is funded by audience subscriptions and advertising revenues.

Under the terms of the BBC Royal Charter and Agreement 1996, the BBC is not permitted to broadcast commercially-funded services unless the BBC brand is disassociated with them. This is, for example, how the BBC is able to get away with commercial operations such as UKTV, which it operates in partnership with Telewest Broadband subsidiary, Flextech. For these reasons, BBC WORLD is not, and will not be, available to the general audiences of the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future.

Quite apart from any legalities, the simple fact is that BBC WORLD is not needed in the UK, where BBC NEWS 24 already provides a rolling news service. To those who would suggest merging the two for simulcast around the world and across the UK, this is ill-considered, because the remits of the two channels are vastly different, and while the two may share presenters, correspondents and reports, the overall packages of the two are uniquely suited to their respective audiences.

BBC WORLD is available to watch in the UK in some ways however. Try checking yourself into an expensive hotel for a few days, and you may well find it playing there. And if you need to get from London Heathrow Airport into central London, then avoid the Tube, and instead get the Heathrow Express for a pre-recorded 15-minute news summary. If you can't afford to live in a hotel for the rest of your life, or you live nowhere near Heathrow Airport, then your last desperate course of action must be to simply purchase a battered old satellite dish and point it towards Hotbird 13 East, and tune BBC WORLD into your one of your television's spare channels. You will then be able to give up your job, ditch your partner, and vegetate in your favourite armchair watching BBC WORLD.

You can get BBC World with the right equipment (i.e. a large enough dish pointed at HotBird and a digital receiver).

Privatise the BBC, then all licence fees issues finished forever and all the BBC world channels could be broadcast here too. Simple!

I thought the Hotbird signal had been switched off? Or is that just the analogue signal?

And how big is 'big enough' when it comes to reciever dishes?

BBC World and Prime aren't officially available in Britain because they are funded by advertisements and by law the BBC can't broadcast such channels in the UK.

You can get BBC World with the right equipment (i.e. a large enough dish pointed at HotBird and a digital receiver). I live in the UK and can watch BBC World and I can honestly say that these days, you aren't missing much. Before 2003, BBC World and BBC News 24 were quite different channels. However, with the last two relaunches of BBC News, the differences have been ironed out. You don't get anything extra now with BBC World than you would get with BBC News 24. Both have live news, business, sport and weather and BBC World has filler programmes in back half hours. Many of these are available on News 24 overnight or at weekends (WBR, Asia Today, HARDtalk, Click, Extra Time, etc.). And those programmes that aren't shown on BBC News 24 either have already been shown domestically at some point (e.g. Francesco's Italy was shown on World recently....that was shown on BBC1 in June 2006) or are not worth watching.

On the odd occasions that BBC Prime has been unencrypted, it has merely been a mixture of BBC1 and UKTV Gold. You are not missing anything there.

So, I really wouldn't waste your time and money. Several years ago when BBC World and News 24 looked different (i.e. different idents) there was a case for watching World in the UK, at least for the TV pres fan. But, now they even look identical, so there really is no point.

The BBC is private, even though it's established by Royal Charter. According to the Charter the BBC

1. must not show advertisements or sell commercial airtime
   
2. may not show any editorial bias
   
3. must act as a completely independent body, uninfluenced by the Government or the Crown and answering only to its viewers and listeners

How would the BBC raise money if it didn't have the license fee and couldn't show adverts?

I'm fine with the license fee.

so AN act of government is Needed Or is that actully Imposable! and it Must stick to this format tell the end of time, space and the unerverasl?

I live in the UK and can watch BBC World and I can honestly say that these days, you aren't missing much. Before 2003, BBC World and BBC News 24 were quite different channels. However, with the last two relaunches of BBC News, the differences have been ironed out. You don't get anything extra now with BBC World than you would get with BBC News 24.