BBC to launch TV channel for Iranian viewers

LONDON, Oct 11: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is to launch a Persian-language television news channel with funding from the British government aimed at satellite viewers in Iran.

The BBC [BBC.UL] said the service would be run by its World Service and be editorially independent. It will be available to anyone with satellite or cable television in the region.

The service, which will launch in 2008, will be based in London and complement the public service broadcaster's existing Persian radio and online services for Iran.

It is supported by the British Foreign Office and was announced by Finance Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.

''The BBC World Service and its Web site is a trusted source of news and information for millions across the world,'' Brown, the favourite to replace Tony Blair as prime minister, said at the speech to the Chatham House thinktank.

''The BBC's proposed Farsi TV Channel is an editorially independent specialist TV service for the people of Iran and I am pleased to announce that we are making available the resources for this today.'' Earlier this year, the Iranian authorities partially blocked the BBC's Persian-language Web site after accusing the broadcaster of an ''anti-Iranian tendency''.

Iran outlawed satellite dishes in the mid-1990s as part of efforts to curb the inroads of Western culture but the ban was largely ignored under former President Mohammad Khatami.

Hardliners under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have pressed for renewed restrictions. A spokesman for the BBC World Service said their research suggested there was some 23 million satellite dishes in Iran.

The channel will be broadcast for eight hours a day, seven days a week, during prime time viewing in Iran. It will show current affairs programmes, and cultural and educational documentaries covering both international and regional issues.

The BBC is also launching an Arabic television service towards the end of 2007.

REUTERS