The British government will provide an additional £70 million (approximately 760 million kuna) to the BBC World Service for funding programs in Persian and Arabic, announced British Finance Minister Alistair Darling on Tuesday.
The television programs in Persian and Arabic are the first programs that the BBC is launching in the last ten years, and for the first time in history, the government will provide funding for a specific television program. The Persian program is expected to start next year and will be completely editorially independent.
It will primarily target viewers in Iran. It will be broadcast from London for eight hours a day, and it will be available for free viewing in Iran via satellite or cable connection. Persian is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran (Farsi), Tajikistan (Tajik), and Afghanistan (Dari), as well as in parts of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
The financial aid from the British government will also enable the BBC to extend its Arabic language programming, which is also set to begin soon, from 12 to 24 hours a day. Arabic is a Semitic language that is the official language in 24 Asian and African countries. (Hina)
