Why are we giving foreigners are tv? I'm not in favour of funding this -- albeit through my taxes. Surely they have their own news and if they don't why should we provide it? Under dictators or whatever, I'm not interested in their plight. We could surely have a slice of the budget if we scrapped all world services? Then put it back in for dramas for the home market.
The international networks are funded by advertising, not the TV license.
They launched in 1995. I don't know about BBC Prime, but BBC World had been going since about 1991 but it was called BBC World Service Television back then. It was only in 1995 that the name was shortened to BBC World.
They launched in 1995. I don't know about BBC Prime, but BBC World had been going since about 1991 but it was called BBC World Service Television back then. It was only in 1995 that the name was shortened to BBC World.
BBC World Service Television launched in 1991. ISTR there were BBC Europe and BBC Asia services as well or as part of WSTV - can anyone remember exactly what the deal was... ?! AIUI, BBC Asia was the main WSTV and was run in conjunction with a commercial partney in Hong Kong. It took news programmes from the WSTV Newsroom and back half hours were filled with Documentary and Lifestyle programming in much the same was as BBC World is now. It was a commerical channel with ads inserted in Hong Kong. The Europe channel took a mixture of programmes from BBC One and BBC Two and took news programmes mainly from the domestic newsroom (though it may have taken WSTV News at some times of the day ... can't quite remember...
There were horrendous rights issues with the Europe channel towards the end, particularly when it took Grandstand and assosciated sports programmes. The Network Director was often asked to opt out of a horse race that the BBC didn't have the rights to show internationally. Of course races are of unknown duration, so it lead to some interesting filling for the director to do in order to get back into Grandstand cleanly!
BBC World and BBC Prime were formed from these services, with World concentrating on News and Current Affairs and Prime taking the best of the BBC's domestic output and showing it accross Europe (and later Africa, the Middle East and now of course Asia). Initially Prime took many live programmes and regular news and weather bulletins, but now it's a mainly archive channel with only a dozen or so live programmes a year.
Sorry, as in World Service through grants etc. Should have thought about 'taxes' sounding ambiguous!
The UK is hardly the only country in the world with a state-funded international radio station...
Hence extra reason for us not to need one?
Not really, no (IMO). The World Service gives the UK prestige, it is listened to by over 150 million people worldwide, and promotes the UK throughout the world. With Blair stomping around acting as Bush's right-hand man our reputation needs all the help it can get.
I would agree to a certain extent, but I feel the quality isn't great enough to argue in favour of it giving prestige. We would have to do it properly, something I don't think we would.
Will have to agree to disagree on that point. While I would concur that the like of BBC Prime are not brilliant, the World Service is probably the best example of its type, and something the country can be proud of. But each to their own.
They launched in 1995. I don't know about BBC Prime, but BBC World had been going since about 1991 but it was called BBC World Service Television back then. It was only in 1995 that the name was shortened to BBC World.
BBC World Service Television launched in 1991. ISTR there were BBC Europe and BBC Asia services as well or as part of WSTV - can anyone remember exactly what the deal was... ?! AIUI, BBC Asia was the main WSTV and was run in conjunction with a commercial partney in Hong Kong. It took news programmes from the WSTV Newsroom and back half hours were filled with Documentary and Lifestyle programming in much the same was as BBC World is now. It was a commerical channel with ads inserted in Hong Kong. The Europe channel took a mixture of programmes from BBC One and BBC Two and took news programmes mainly from the domestic newsroom (though it may have taken WSTV News at some times of the day ... can't quite remember...
There were horrendous rights issues with the Europe channel towards the end, particularly when it took Grandstand and assosciated sports programmes. The Network Director was often asked to opt out of a horse race that the BBC didn't have the rights to show internationally. Of course races are of unknown duration, so it lead to some interesting filling for the director to do in order to get back into Grandstand cleanly!
BBC World and BBC Prime were formed from these services, with World concentrating on News and Current Affairs and Prime taking the best of the BBC's domestic output and showing it accross Europe (and later Africa, the Middle East and now of course Asia). Initially Prime took many live programmes and regular news and weather bulletins, but now it's a mainly archive channel with only a dozen or so live programmes a year.
I didn't know that BBC Prime took news bulletins in its early days. Did they come from BBC World?
BBC Prime routinely took Newsday, bits of The World Today and a few other BBC World News bulletins in much the same way that BBC America still do (as far as I know...). An edited version of Newsnight was taken on BBC WSTV in the very early days of the channels but I'm not sure when this ended. Some other bulletins from the national newsroom also made it to air on Prime. Breaking stories of a European nature were taken from the World Newsroom occasionally. Prime also opted live into BBC 1 or 2 for certain live programmes, notably Noels House Party and Good Morning with Anne and Nick which were two particular headaches for the Network Directors. Noel because it routinely overran, and Good Morning because of its 'breaks' and in vision presentation links done by Pebble Mill's pres studio in and out of domestic news sumaries plus regional opts! All rather interesting for the poor ND in Prime who had to take the news but not the opts, filling instead with Wildlife shorts and Weather forecasts, and get back cleanly to Briminghams output... All in all those jucntions required use of all the suites OS lines, lots of tapes standing by in instant start VTRs and nerves of steel!
All this shenanigans came to an end in 1998 when most live programmes on Prime were axed with the exception of national events like the State Opening of Parliament, The Cenotaph and bizarrely The Lord Mayor's Show which remain fixtures on the channel to this day. The reactive nature of Prime's schedule also ended, so regular news bulletins on the channel were also consigned to the past. Prime now simply points to BBC World by means of an caption strap should a seriously major story break. The thinking was that most viewers who received Prime also received World (same satellite, free to air) so could watch News when they wanted.
Prime stil shows entertainment events like Comic Relief and Children in Need plus The Eurovision Song Contest complete with Terry Wogan's commentary (but without the UK Voting straps!) because of an option in the EBU's rules that allow a wholly owned DTH channel by a member to show it for free. I assume this is why TVEi show the ESC too...