BBC World Service has announced that its Persian language television channel will launch on Wednesday 14 January 2009. BBC Persian TV will form part of the BBC’s multimedia news and information service for Persian-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and around the globe. The channel will cover the political, social and cultural issues that are of interest to its diverse audiences.
Nigel Chapman, Director of BBC World Service, hailed the arrival of the new channel. He said: “The launch of BBC Persian TV is an event of major importance for the BBC and for audiences in the region. Using the power of television, it will bring ‘the world to its viewers’, and thus meet the needs of audiences who tell us that they want more access to the BBC’s high-quality news and information services. We want this BBC channel to set new standards in Persian-language television broadcasting. BBC Persian TV builds on our distinguished history of broadcasting in Persian and brings the best of the BBC’s news and documentary programmes to audiences.”
As well as news and analysis, BBC Persian TV will broadcast a wide range of original factual programmes including a weekly youth programme, as well as strands on music, arts and culture, science and technology and sport. A documentary showcase will highlight the very best of Iranian, Afghan and Tajik documentary making.
Behrouz Afagh, Head of BBC World Service’s Asia and Pacific Region, says: “The BBC Persian multimedia service has the audience’s needs and concerns at the heart of its agenda. It is contemporary in its style, and independent and penetrating in its journalism. BBC Persian’s multimedia interactive programming provides an opportunity for Persian-speakers worldwide to debate common issues, bring to the foreground diverging viewpoints, and promote greater understanding through dialogue.”
Broadcast from the BBC studios in London, BBC Persian TV will be available eight hours a day, seven days a week, from 1700 to 0100 Tehran Time and 1800 to 0200 Kabul Time (1330-2130 UTC). BBC Persian TV will be freely available to anyone with a satellite dish or cable connection in the region, via Hotbird and Telstar satellites. It will also be streamed live online on bbcpersian.com. In addition, BBC radio broadcasts in Persian seven days a week for an average of 10 hours a day. bbcpersian.com is available 24 hours a day in Persian and Tajik.
(Source: BBC World Service Publicity)
