大象传媒

As part of the new licence fee settlement agreed with the Government last autumn, the World Service will be funded from the licence fee from 2014. This was agreed on the basis that there are valuable synergies between the World Service and the rest of the 大象传媒 and the fact that it helps to deliver the 大象传媒's public purposes.

In the period up to 2014 the World Service continues to be funded by the Government through a grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Today's announcement reflects the financial settlement reached with the Government as part of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, which sees the level of Government funding available for the World Service reduced by 16 per cent. The revised strategy for the World Service will see the closure of five language services and changes to many parts of the World Service's operation. The Trust believes that, although difficult, these changes are necessary in light of the funding situation.

Under the terms of the Agreement that the 大象传媒 has with the Government, the closure of the language services was jointly approved by the 大象传媒 Trust and the Foreign Secretary. Exceptionally the 大象传媒 Trust has agreed to release a limited amount of licence fee funding over the next two years to meet the restructuring costs that will help ensure a smooth transition over to the 大象传媒 in 2014. This will require a change to the 大象传媒 Agreement and the Trust is now working with the Government to bring this into effect.

大象传媒 Trust Chairman Sir Michael Lyons said:

"Today is a difficult day for the World Service, which we want to ensure continues to be the most authoritative, quality broadcaster of news and information around the world. But we have no choice other than to live within the reduced Government grant. Our aim is to help the World Service continue to support the 大象传媒's international role by ensuring it adapts to the changing needs of its audience within a more constrained public spending environment. As part of that the Trust has approved the closure of five language services."

Notes to editors

The 大象传媒 Trust has also today published the correspondence below between Sir Michael Lyons and the Foreign Secretary.