BBC World Service - Operation

Operation

The BBC World Service currently broadcasts from Broadcasting House in London, headquarters of the corporation as a whole. The service itself is located in the new constructions of the building and contains radio and television studios for use by the several language services. The building will also contain an integrated newsroom used by the international World Service, the international television channel BBC World News, the domestic television and radio BBC News bulletins, the BBC News Channel and the local news for the BBC London region on television and radio.

Upon launch, the service was located, along with nearly all Radio output, in Broadcasting House. However, following the explosion of a parachute mine outside the building on 8 December 1940, the services relocated to new premises away from the likely target of Broadcasting House. The Overseas service relocated to premises in Oxford Street while the European service moved temporarily to the emergency broadcasting facilities at Maida Vale Studios. The European services moved permanently into Bush House towards the end of 1940, completing the move in 1941, with the Overseas services joining them in 1958. Bush House since became the home of the BBC World Service and the building itself has gained a global reputation with the audience of the service. However, the building was vacated in 2012 as a result of the Broadcasting House changes and the end of the building's lease that year; the first service to move was the Burmese Service on 11 March 2012 and the final broadcast was a news bulletin broadcast at 11.00GMT on 12 July 2012.

The BBC World Service is used to describe an English 24 hour global radio network and separate services in 27 languages. News and information is available on all these languages on the BBC Website with many having RSS feeds and specific versions for use on mobile phones and some also using email notification of stories. In addition to the English service, 18 of the language services broadcast a radio service using the Short wave, AM or the FM band. These programmes are also available to listen live over the internet, can be listened to again over the internet for seven days or indefinitely in some cases and, in the case of seven language services, can be downloaded as podcasts. In recent years, video content has also been used by the World Service; 16 language services now show video reports in that language on the service's website and two services now have dedicated television channels - BBC Arabic launched in 2008 and BBC Persian launched in 2009. Television services are also used to broadcast the radio service, with local cable and satellite television operators providing the English network and occasionally some local language services free to air on their services. The English language service is also available on digital radio in the UK and Europe.

Traditionally, the BBC World Service relied on shortwave broadcasts, because of its ability to overcome barriers of censorship, distance and spectrum scarcity. To this end, the BBC has maintained a worldwide network of shortwave relay stations since the 1940s, mainly in former British colonies. These cross border broadcasts have also been used in special circumstances to broadcast emergency messages to British subjects abroad, such as the advice to evacuate Jordan during the Black September incidents of September 1970. These facilities were privatised in 1997 as Merlin Communications, which were later acquired and operated as part of a wider network for multiple broadcasters by VT Communications (now part of Babcock International Group). It is also common for BBC programmes to air on traditionally Voice of America or ORF transmitters, while their programming is relayed by a station physically located in the UK. However, since the 1980s, satellite distribution has made it possible for local stations to relay BBC programming.

The World Service aims to be "the world's best-known and most-respected voice in international broadcasting, thereby bringing benefit to the UK, the BBC and to audiences around the world" while retaining a "balanced British view" of international developments. Like the rest of the BBC, the World Service is a Crown Corporation of the UK Government and is therefore independent from Parliament. However unlike the rest of the corporation, which is funded through a television licence fee, the World Service is currently funded through a Parliamentary Grant-in-aid given by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In 2008/9 the BBC World Service received 12.4% of the department's £2.2 billion budget and in the financial year 2011/12, the service received £255.2 million from this grant.

In addition to broadcasting, the BBC World Service also devotes resources to the BBC Learning English programme which helps people learn English.