Date: Tuesday, 22 November 2016
http://www.screenafrica.com/page/news/television/1661016-BBC-World-service-expansion-includes-six-new-African-language-services#.WDSAZNThAts BBC World service expansion includes six new African language services Tue, 22 Nov 2016 BBC, the British public broadcaster has revealed its biggest expansion since 1940. The company is launching 11 new language services among which are six African languages for 2017. This includes Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya, Igbo, Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin. The first and second mentioned language is widely spoken in Ethiopia and Afaan Oromo is also spoken in particular parts of Kenya, Somalia and Egypt. Tigrinya is spoken mainly in Eritrea and some areas of Egypt. Nigeria and other parts of West Africa are where Igbo, Yoruba and the Nigerian Pidgin (Creole version of English) languages are spoken. Fran Unsworth, the director of BBC World Service, said: “An increasing number of people are watching the World Service on TV, and many services are now digital-only. We will be able to speed up our digital transformation, especially for younger audiences, and we will continue to invest in video news bulletins”. The new language services mean the BBC World Service will be available in 40 languages, including English. Presently, its African language service is available in Hausa, Kirundi, Somali and Swahili. The latest addition of will thus amount the total to 10. --- BBC World Service announces biggest expansion 'since the 1940s' http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37990220
