BBC Urdu

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BBC Urdu
بی بی سی اردو
TypeRadio network and website
Country
AvailabilityInternational
EndowmentForeign and Commonwealth Office, UK
OwnerBBC
Launch date
May 1940
Official website
www.bbc.com/urdu/
LanguageUrdu

BBC Urdu (Urdu: بی بی سی اردو) is a digital television station covering the Indian subcontinent in the Urdu language.[1] It was the Urdu language station of the BBC World Service, accompanied by its website, which served as a news portal and provided online access to radio broadcasts. The radio service was broadcast from Broadcasting House in London and Pakistan as well as from a BBC South and East Asia bureau in New Delhi, India. It also has a children’s channel CBeebies. The target audience were Pakistani and Indian viewers.[2][3]

History[edit]

BBC Urdu Service, originally launched in May 1940, was initially known as the BBC Hindustani Service.[4] It was launched to mitigate the influence of wartime misinformation from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.[4] After the independence of India in 1947, the service was split into two separate entities: the Indian service for Hindi speakers, and the Pakistani service for Urdu speakers.[4]

In 1967, Pakistan Service was renamed as the Urdu Service to better serve Urdu-speaking audiences in India, Europe, Pakistan, and Gulf.[4]

On December 30, 2022, after almost two decades of operation, BBC Pakistan stopped its Urdu Radio as part of its global cost-cutting efforts.[5][6]

Programs[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "After nearly two decades, BBC Urdu ends its radio news bulletins in Pakistan". Arab News PK. 31 December 2022.
  2. ^ "بی بی سی اردو کے شائقین ایک کروڑ سے زیادہ". 11 February 2015.
  3. ^ Adams, Paul C.; Craine, Jim (23 March 2016). The Routledge Research Companion to Media Geography. Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-317-04282-2. Letters received from listeners to BBC's Urdu Services in Pakistan and Northern India (and now archived in the BBC's Written Archive Centre) reveal similar spatial variations in the reception of specific BBC broadcasts.
  4. ^ a b c d Webb, Alban; Gillespie, Marie (2013). Diasporas and Diplomacy Cosmopolitan: Contact Zones at the BBC World Service (1932-2012). Routledge. p. 157. ISBN 9780415508803.
  5. ^ "بی بی سی اردو ریڈیو کی آخری نشریات". BBC News اردو (in Urdu). 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  6. ^ "BBC ends Urdu Radio service in Pakistan after nearly 2 decades". Daily Pakistan Global. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  7. ^ "BBC Urdu announces end of Sairbeen's radio broadcast". DAWN.COM. 21 December 2019.
  8. ^ "BBC ends Sairbeen broadcast on Aaj TV alleging interference". DAWN.COM. 16 January 2021.

External links[edit]