Category: World Service
Date: 28.09.2005
Printable version
Listeners throughout France can access the BBC's news gathering operation in English and in Arabic through CANALSAT thanks to a new partnership with the radio and online division BBC World Service.
From Monday 3 October, audiences can hear a range of quality programmes including news, documentaries and analysis, 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Babis Metaxas, Business Development Manager for Europe, BBC World Service, said: "France has a sophisticated news environment, and we are confident that the global, impartial and accurate information and analysis that the BBC provides will be appreciated and valued.
"The availability of BBC World Service programmes on the CANALSAT platform will appeal to a wide range of listeners, especially those with a keen interest in international news, expatriates eager to keep up with developments in their country and people keen to improve their English language skills.
"The BBC is particularly delighted to have the opportunity to reach, for the first time, a sizeable proportion of France's Arabic-speaking population.
"The Arabic service is our oldest language service launched in 1938 and is widely listened to by millions of Arabic speakers across the Middle East."
Guy Lafarge, Chief Executive Officer of CANALSAT, said: "We're thrilled to be adding the BBC's English and Arabic radio news services to CANALSAT's already rich platform of over 50 radios."
Notes to Editors
BBC World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in 43 languages.
It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including SW, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.
It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations which take BBC content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones.
Its international online sites include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to interact directly with world events. They receive more than 330 million page impressions a month.
BBC Arabic is the leading international radio news service in Arabic and bbcarabic.com is the leading Arabic online news site.
BBC Arabic broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day, with news on the hour, every hour.
It broadcasts to the whole Arab world on short wave and through digital audio channels on the principal satellites covering the Arab world.
In most of the eastern Arab world, BBC broadcasts are heard on medium wave, and in key cities the BBC is available on FM.
The award-winning site bbcarabic.com also carries a live audio feed of BBC Arabic radio.
CANALSAT is France's first digital satellite platform with more than three million subscriptions.
It offers more than 290 channels and services - 65 of which are exclusive - and features more than 50 radio channels, including 18 with exclusive broadcasting rights and 14 Spanish channels.
Subscribers receive excellent reception and digital sound on their television or stereo system.
In addition, an interactive mosaic provides easy, smooth navigation.
CANALSAT broadcasts France's major general-interest stations and music channels (rock, rap, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, Latin, electronic and techno), as well as talk programmes, financial news, sports, non-commercial and community radio.
