| Our 24-hour international news and information channel now reaches 135m homes worldwide, of which 59m have 24-hour access (up from 52m a year ago). This year the channel surpassed its distribution targets, increasing subscription revenue by over 50%, despite the downturn in Asia. Advertising revenues also increased significantly. Although in the year the channel incurred losses totalling £15.6m, this represented a reduction of 36% on last year, and meant that the channel performed on plan.
BBC WORLD broke into the USA this year: its live news bulletins are carried by 66 public television stations, making it available to 45% of US homes, as well as on BBC AMERICA. In Latin America, BBC WORLD increased its coverage by 69%.
Growth was most rapid in Europe, with a gain of 5.3m homes to make a total of 39m across the continent. The introduction of the new wide beam was well timed for coverage of the Kosovo crisis, relayed by Albanian stations.
In Asia Pacific, a survey indicated that monthly reach amongst affluent Asians rose from 9% to 17.5%. In India, BBC WORLD is available in 76% of affluent cable homes, with a weekly reach of 11%. 'Every Indian I spoke to said they watched it by preference' (Sunday Times, 18 October 1998).
BBC WORLD replaced a network of agents with its own advertising sales team, with offices in Europe, Asia and the USA.
BBC PRIME
- our mainstream international entertainment channel, now
100% owned by BBC Worldwide, had a particularly successful
year (see EMEIA).
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