BBC News and BBC World to Open New Manhattan Bureau at Headquarters of Thirteen/WNET New York

Business Wire, March 23, 2005

NEW YORK -- BBC News and BBC World, the BBC's international news and information channel, are pleased to announce the opening of a new bureau in Manhattan at the production studios of the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, home to Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York. The new bureau brings under one roof the world's largest news broadcaster and two of the major producing stations for PBS. This move will give the BBC a unique position amongst international broadcasters to cover news, business, arts and entertainment in the most vibrant city in the world.

From June 2005, the BBC will start broadcasting across all its networks for radio and television from new facilities at Thirteen/WNET. BBC World's flagship financial programme World Business Report - broadcast several times each day to more than 200 countries and territories around the globe - will transmit business news segments from a state-of-the-art set, with a dramatic live backdrop of the Manhattan skyline.

WLIW has been distributing live BBC World News to public television stations nationwide since 1998, with current carriage at 230 stations. In the New York metropolitan area, these can be seen on Thirteen/WNET weeknights at 1800, and on WLIW21 at 0600, 1900 and 2300 each weekday; 0600, 1900 and 2300 on Saturdays; and 0600, 1800 and 2300 on Sundays. In addition, the programme BBC World: This Week - a comprehensive round-up of the events of the past seven days - airs on Sundays on WLIW21 at 1730.

The BBC and Thirteen/WNET have a long history of co-commissioning news and current affairs programming. Thirteen/WNET, America's most-watched public television station, has a commitment to reporting the world and giving context to global issues through strong human stories and engaging television, including foreign affairs documentaries such as the documentary series Wide Angle. The BBC is trusted by its global audience to present balanced, accurate analysis of stories topping the international news agenda, with BBC World now reaching 258 million households in total.

It is hoped this move will be the first step in a new era of creative collaboration between two of the most imaginative and innovative broadcasting organisations.

The BBC's arrival at 450 West 33rd Street alongside the new headquarters for Associated Press and the offices of the Daily News will contribute to the emergence of a major new broadcasting hub in midtown Manhattan.

Notes to Editors: BBC World, the BBC's commercially-funded international 24-hour news and information channel, is owned and operated by BBC World Ltd, a member of the BBC's commercial group of companies. BBC World is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, and reaches 258 million households (115 million 24-hour homes) and more than one million hotel rooms. BBC World launched in its present format in 1995 and is funded by advertising and subscription. For further information on how to receive BBC World, download schedules or find out more about the channel, visit www.bbcworld.com.

Thirteen/WNET New York is one of the key program providers for public television, bringing such acclaimed series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, Wide Angle, Stage on Screen, Secrets of the Dead, and Cyberchase - as well as the work of Bill Moyers - to audiences nationwide. As the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut metro area, Thirteen reaches millions of viewers each week, airing the best of American public television along with its own local productions such as The Ethnic Heritage Specials, The Thirteen Walking Tours, New York Voices, and Reel New York. With educational and community outreach projects that extend the impact of its television productions, Thirteen takes television "out of the box." And as broadcast and digital media converge, Thirteen is blazing trails in the creation of Web sites, enhanced television, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, educational software, and other cutting-edge media products. More information about Thirteen can be found at: www.thirteen.org.