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The BBC World Service is one of the most widely-recognised international broadcasters, currently broadcasting in 32 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays. It is politically independent, non-profit and commercial-free. It broadcasts radio and television programmes.

The English language service broadcasts 24 hours a day. In May 2007 the BBC reported that the World Service's average weekly audience had reached 183 million people, beating the previous record of 163 million listeners set the year before. The World Service has been traditionally funded by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the British Government — unlike the BBC's domestic radio and television services, which are primarily funded by a compulsory licence fee levied on every household in the United Kingdom using a television to watch programmes as they are being broadcast. Despite this form of funding, the World Service remains editorially independent, although the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is closely consulted in decisions about which languages are broadcast.

The current British government has changed the funding arrangements and the World Service's funding will now come from the domestic licence fee which provides funding for the BBC.

For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bbc_world_service

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