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The BBC is considering plans to reinstate axed short-wave World Service radio broadcasts on a short-term basis to regions where major events are taking place, following the revolution in Egypt.
Short-wave radio broadcasts of the BBC Arabic service, which has around 400,000 listeners in Egypt, will be shut down within weeks as part of plans to save £46m from the World Service budget, a 20% cut from its £253m annual budget.
World Service broadcasts in short wave are being cut back in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia as part of the cost saving drive.
An email sent to Bush House staff on Wednesday by Peter Horrocks, the BBC's global news director, revealed plans to respond to major events in particular regions by buying up short-wave radio capacity, against abackdrop of violent political uprising sweeping across the Middle East.
"We also said in January that there would be changes to distribution, in particular changes to SW [shortwave] distribution," Horrocks said in the email, which has been seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk.
"We are looking into the possibility of buying SW capacity at short notice to ensure we can react quickly should we need to, as highlighted recently in Egypt," he added.
"I must stress that any changes we make to our original plans have to be made in the context of the tight financial settlement – what we can not do, is find new money."
The BBC is being forced to implement the cuts after the World Service's funding from the Foreign Office was reduced by 16% in the government's comprehensive spending review in October. From 2014 the World Service is to be financed from the licence fee, rather than by direct Foreign Office grant, and the BBC has said it intends to reverse some of the cuts from that point.
Horrocks also revealed the timeline for service closures across the World Service. Four services are to close this month.
The BBC Portuguese service for Africa, BBC Serbian and BBC Mundo radio will cease broadcasting on Friday 25 February, and BBC Albanian will air its last transmission on 28 February.
Three services – BBC Caribbean, BBC Russian Radio and BBC Chinese Radio – will stop broadcasting on 25 March. BBC Vietnamese radio and BBC Azeri radio will close on the final weekend of March.
Short-wave radio distribution for the Indonesian, Kygryz, Nepali, Swahili, Great Lake and Hindi service will also end on the weekend of 26 and 27 of March. Staff from these services will continue to be employed by the BBC until at least 1 August, unless they have requested to leave earlier, Horrocks said in the email.
The BBC earlier this month defended its decision to cease some of its World Service broadcasts in the Middle East.
"With satellite TV becoming virtually ubiquitous in the Arab-speaking world, and the success of its own TV channel, the BBC has decided to stop its short wave broadcasts to some countries in the Middle East," the corporation said in a statement.
"However, BBC Arabic will continue to serve its radio audiences on medium wave, through its network of FM relays and via existing and new rebroadcasting partnerships.
"It will also continue to serve its most sensitive audiences in Sudan and Arabic peninsula with short wave and medium wave broadcasts."
SOURCE:BBC World Service could return on short wave to cover major events http://bit.ly/gZL8gu
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