Foreigners

A hour of pulling teeth at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee this afternoon, as they interviewed BBC Trustee Lord Williams of Baglan and Director of News James Harding about the future of the World Service, as it sets off on its new voyage, sails filled with licence fees.

Lord Williams maybe shouldn't have been out on his own, musing plaintively about his personal concerns for those jailed and fined for non-payment of licence fees - and then appearing to suggest that the World Service in English is not available in the UK. Read this, my Lord.

In the UK, BBC World Service radio in English is available on DAB, online, mobile and on all digital TV platforms.

The channel numbers for the different digital TV platform are as follows:
Freeview 710
Freesat 711 
Sky  0115 
Virgin Media 906 

This is in addition to overnight transmissions of BBC World Service on Radio 4 frequencies.

James Harding committed the BBC to annual funding of the World Service of £245m plus "investment to innovate" until the next Charter, but didn't know when the budget for 2015/16 would be announced, while Lord Williams sat there bemused.  Ming Campbell asked what might be done to preserve the values and expertise of the World Service; Harding's turn to stumble for an answer.

The session end with a mild kicking for BBC News and World Service for failing to follow up the Committee's report on extremism in north and west Africa, other than online. James Harding said Friday was a busy news day, when he should have said it's a story that won't go away.