LONDON: Next time you log on the Beeb's online news service, you will have access to content more relevant to the country of your origin.

Using the same BBC News online material, international and UK users will now have the choice of separate news editions with agendas relevant to their needs. According to a company release, international visitors to the BBC's news services on the web will be able to choose from a new publicly-funded World Edition at BBCNews.com from 23 July, a section that features news and analyses emphasising a global news agenda.

BBCNews.com also offer easier access to international coverage of sport, arts, science and technology, as well as the BBC World Service's site which features text and audio in 43 languages, the release adds. The cost of providing a news agenda more relevant to international users is being met entirely from the BBC World Service's grant-in-aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, it says.

Costs for the supply of BBC News to the BBC World Service are already met through grant-in-aid. Users in the UK meanwhile will be able to choose a UK edition through BBCi, including - as now - full world coverage, but giving greater prominence to UK stories and features at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news. The same news reporting will be available to all users - the difference being the way in which it is presented for each audience.

Both public service gateways will be free of advertising and give access to all the web content produced by the BBC. Users of the BBC News site (either from the UK or abroad) will be given the choice of direct access to their preferred edition - either international or UK and will be automatically directed there on subsequent visits.



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