BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is a worldwide broadcaster that is owned and controlled by the BBC and receives money from the British government. It broadcasts in over 100 countries. It is the world's biggest international broadcaster in terms of reception area, language choices, and audience reach. It is also the greatest international broadcaster in terms of revenue. More than 40 languages are transmitted over analogue and digital shortwave channels, as well as internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays to reach listeners in many areas of the globe. It reached an average of 210 million people each week in 2015, according to the BBC World Service (via TV, radio and online). The BBC stated in November 2016 that it will begin broadcasting in other languages, including Amharic and Igbo, marking the organization's most significant growth since the 1940s.
World Service is supported by the United Kingdom's television licence fee, restricted advertising, and the revenues made by BBC Studios, among other sources. The service has also been promised £289 million from the UK government, which will be distributed over a five-year period ending in 2020. Until 1 April 2014, the World Service was supported by grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, which had been in place for decades.
BBC World Service (British Broadcasting Corporation) In addition to the eight regional feeds with several programme variations, English maintains eight regional feeds with several programme variations, each covering a different region of the world: East and South Africa, West and Central Africa, Europe and Middle East, the Americas and Caribbean, East Asia, South Asia, Australasia, as well as the United Kingdom. There are also two other online-only streams, one of which is more news-oriented and is known as News Internet, and the other which is more entertainment-oriented and known as Entertainment Internet. This accessible 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Mary Hockaday is the current controller of the BBC World Service English service.