BBC to broadcast live from India in April

In the first week of April, BBC Global News will, for the first time, broadcast from India, covering the initial phase of the general elections.

Jim Egan, chief executive, BBC Global News, said, “Obviously, it’s a huge year in India and there is a lot of global attention around the Lok Sabha elections. We think a lot about Indian programming. We have to think both about (catering to) our Indian audiences, as well as global interest in India. We always have this dual focus in what we do.”

The channel already has regular content from here such as the India Business Report televised every weekend. In January, the company had brought its HARDtalk programme to India, with BBC journalist Stephen Sackur interviewing various politicians such as Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Last month, BBC Global News ran a special season of India Direct, which included topics such as technology, culture and sports. “We want to have programming that looks at different aspects of Indian life because India is a huge country, with enormous geographical diversity. So, we are trying to shine a light on some of that to our viewers around the world,” said Egan.

Anchored by Jon Sopel and Mishal Husain, the new broadcast will have on-the-spot analyses of the elections, with a global perspective.

Two or three daily shows would be conducted live from India and BBC Trending’s social media teams will also be based in India at that time.

BBC Global News also plans launch an Indian version of its mobile website in April.

The site has seen a 350 per cent rise in the number of users. Egan said, “We are really pleased that our audience is growing in India, especially on digital. So, we think having a nationally relevant version of what we do is important. The focus is to be global even in something that is tailored for Indian audiences. The website will be will English-led, but will also have content in Hindi and Tamil.”

‘Scale of the elections in India mind-blowing’

Asked what he found different about the run up to the elections in India, Jon Sopel, who has covered elections in the US, UK, Germany, etc, animatedly says, “The noise! Indian elections are a noisy affair. But jokes apart, the enormous scale of the elections is mind-blowing…the number of new names added in the electoral list in India since 2009 is almost double the number of people in a constituency in the UK!”

He says while the focus will be on the elections, the aim will be to provide the bigger picture.  “We will not be interested in the small skirmishes and clashes that might happen during the elections. What we will be more interested in covering is the impact of what is happening not only on the Indian level, but on the global canvas.” On a lighter note, he adds the coverage by BBC will be a lot “quieter” compared to Indian news channels, which he finds “noisy”.