Pathmarajah
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News Flash: BBC Entertainment and CBeebies to be withdrawn in India
The two channels will be withdrawn by end-November. The decision is attributed to delays in digitisation and high carriage fees
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | November 1, 2012
BBC Worldwide today confirmed the closure of two of its branded channels in India through an announcement on its Facebook page. BBC Entertainment and CBeebies are to be withdrawn and will no longer be available beyond the end of November 2012. BBC World News, the BBC’s international news and current affairs channel, will remain available to Indian viewers.The decision to withdraw these BBC channels has not been an easy one to take. India is a dynamic and fast growing media market but remains uniquely challenging for pay-TV channels. Specifically, delays in digitisation and the need for channel operators to pay cable platforms for carriage makes the economics of running channels very challenging at this time.
Quality BBC content will continue to be seen in India – many of our programmes are available on other channels, both terrestrial and cable, as well as digitally and on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/BBCWorldwide).
The announcement said: “We would like to thank our dedicated and loyal staff in India, Singapore and the UK who have worked on BBC Entertainment and CBeebies, and our many viewers for their support and loyalty. We believe India is an exciting market and in the event of changes in the options available to us, we would certainly consider relaunching our non-News channels in the market.”
The BBC Entertainment website (http://india.bbcentertainment.com/) and Facebook page will continue to be regularly updated until the channels are withdrawn.
For the record, in Asia, BBC Entertainment is available in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, besides India. CBeebies is available in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, besides India..
