Launch of BBC Prime in Asia and BBC Japan

Yesterday (December 1st) saw the start of BBC Prime broadcasting in Asia as well as BBC Japan (Japanese site) and the relaunch of the BBC Prime website.

Personally I think it is a good move for BBC Worldwide, it is interesting to see that they are so willing to expand into other markets which few other broadcasters do to the same extent. Although to a UK resident the schedules seem a bit naff I wonder what native and British expatriot viewers in Asia and Japan will make of the programming. Unlike BBC America BBC Prime (including all the regional variants - Africa, Asia and Europe) and BBC Japan do not show BBC World at any point. Whether this is a good move or not is debatable since in a way it assumes that already have BBC World which may or may not be the case, but either way it is a good way of showcasing BBC World and thus increasing viewship.

What does everyone think of the schedules? Programmes like Ground Force and the Vicar of Dibley seem like obvious choices, but in all fairness you could do a lot worse. BBC America has become more varied with the inclusion of such Channel 4 programmes as Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and ITV1's Holiday Showdown, perhaps the other channels will follow in this direction with time.

This may be a long shot but does anyone what so ever have any clips or screen shots of any BBC Prime or BBC Japan? Or does anyone know if the BBC Prime pres has changed to come inline with the new "white" website? It would be interesting to see how they compare to the other international commercial sister channels.

So far, only the BBC PRIME Asia site sports the new look. The main BBC PRIME site continues with its old blue look. Never been a great fan of that look myself.

Dont know if this is a bit of a dumb question....or not!

Is BBC Prime available in Ireland? In the listings you can select Ireland as a country....so I take it , it it.

If so, is it only available via cable TV?

I notice BBC prime and BBC Japan have the same listings. Why didn't they just launch a local version of PRIME in Japan then?

Of all the Non uk BBC Channels, BBC Prime is the one I would like to see. However I've got the feeling the Look of the channel is very dated.

Nice site. Shame the designer felt the need to have a pop-up box informing non-internet explorer users that the site is uncompatible when it works fine.

From what I saw, BBC Prime Europe has not changed its presentation as yet - showing EastEnders now,. Suprised it shows the same programmes as BBC 1 and 2, for eg Bargain Hunt episode on BBC1 was same on BBC Prime - I'd thought BBC Prime would show older episodes.

Looks like the new Aisa site has gone tits up!



Nice to see the error message tells you exactly what server software they are using and other deatils that would be ideal to a person wishing to hack it!

Technically speaking, you are allowed to subscribe to BBC Prime in Ireland. If you have a dish and reciever capable of recieving it...

However practically every (well 90% at least) of satellite systems sold in Ireland are Sky Digital ones. On which you cannot recieve BBC Prime!

No cable system in Ireland carries BBC Prime. Every last one of them carries BBC One and BBC Two though. Digital cable/MMDS systems also carry the BBC digital channels, and NTL Digital has BBC World as well.

Dear oh dear oh dear, what on earth has happened, looks like their server has fooked up, they better sort it out quick!

Will someone knock this bit of code off BBC Japan's website

<script>javascript:alert('This site only supports IE5 upwards');</script>

It's on every page, this alert!

Prime used to show one editon of EastEnders each week half an hour earlier than it was shown on BBC ONE.

Yes BBC Prime has a mixture of UKTV Programming coupled with very recent programming ala Top of The Pops, EastEnders, remember this stuff is shown first time in Europe!

The Asia site has launched with that annoying PopUp, what the heck!