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The launch of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Persian television and other major multimedia developments helped ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service extend its reach to record numbers while maintaining the highest standards of journalism, according to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Annual Review for 2008/09, published today.

The review provides information about ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's performance during a year of major news events like Gaza, Georgia and the US Elections.

In his foreword, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Global News Director Richard Sambrook highlights ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's expansion as a multimedia media broadcaster during the year which included the launch of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Persian television:

"People come to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service for journalism that is challenging and asks difficult questions, yet respects different points of view and actively encourages debate.

"Increasingly, they want access at a time and place that suits them. Major progress was made towards achieving that goal in 2008/9."

The review highlights:

• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service further developed its multimedia strategy, including the launch of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Persian television; the growth of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Arabic television into a full 24-hour operation; and other online and mobile developments.
• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service attracted its highest audience ever, with a global multimedia audience estimate of 188 million weekly across its 32 language services.
• Independent research indicates that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's reputation for providing unbiased and objective news and information is stronger than that of any other international radio competitor in most markets surveyed.
• In a unique partnership, six new YouTube video channels were launched – in Arabic, Portuguese for Brazil, Persian, Russian, Spanish and Urdu.
• The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Global News podcast was downloaded nearly two million times in January 2009.
• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Global News services – which include ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World News television and bbc.com/news (the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s international-facing online news site) – have a record global weekly audience of over 238 million during 2008/09.
• ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service's Grant-in-Aid funding for 2008/09 was £265million.

The Annual Review can be accessed at: bbcworldservice.com/annual_review2009.

Notes to Editors

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service is an international multimedia broadcaster delivering 32 language and regional services, including: Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, English, English for Africa, English for the Caribbean, French for Africa, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese for Africa, Portuguese for Brazil, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish for Latin America, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek and Vietnamese.

It uses multiple platforms to reach 188 million users globally including shortwave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.

It has around 2,000 partner radio stations which take ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones and other wireless handheld devices.

Its news sites include audio and video content and offer opportunities to join the global debate.

For more information, visit bbcworldservice.com.

To find out more about the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s English language offer and subscribe to a free e-newsletter, visit bbcworldservice.com/schedules.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Global News brings together ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service – funded by Grant-in-Aid by the UK Government; the commercially-funded ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World News television channel and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s international facing online news services in English; ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Monitoring – which is funded by stakeholders led by the Cabinet Office, and a range of public and private clients; and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Trust – the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s international development charity which uses donor funding. No licence fee funds are used in any of these operations.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service Press Office