(8 April 2009 8:45 pm)

MUMBAI: BBC World Service has announced the launch of a new BBC Persian Channel on online video community YouTube.

The new channel's launch further expands BBC's outreach to Persian-speaking audiences on a range of platforms adding to BBC's current radio, television and online offerings for the Persians.

The BBC Persian Channel on YouTube offers video material covering political, social, economic, scientific and cultural issues with reports from the Corporation's unparalleled global network of correspondents, including reporters of bbcpersian.com covering events and issues of special interest to the Persian-speaking audience. Video clips illustrating major world events will also be available.

BBC's Persian Channel will carry clips and excerpts from BBC Persian TV's wide range of original programmes including the popular weekly politics, youth and interactive programmes, as well as music, arts and culture, science and technology and sports.

Says BBC Persian head Andres Ilves, "This is an exciting addition to our Persian language services and will enable even more Persian-speaking news seekers to access the BBC's online output in their own language."

Explains bbcpersian.com editor Jamshid Barzegar, "The online environment is particularly important to Persian speakers who represent one of the most active communities on the web. With this in mind, any addition to our services online is very valuable. BBC is one among a few Persian-language broadcasters producing high-quality video content specifically for the web and our channel on YouTube is a logical and important extra-strand to our offering."

The BBC Persian Channel is part of a portfolio of video news channels being developed by BBC World Service as it extends its relationship with YouTube, in what is the first multi-language partnership with a major international news broadcaster.

A BBC Russian Channel was launched in December 2008, followed by BBC Mundo (Spanish) in February 2009. Users will soon have access to news clips produced by the BBC Arabic, BBC Brazil and BBC Urdu teams.

"YouTube is a truly global platform that connects millions of people from all over the world, many of whom have a strong interest in international news. By bringing top quality news content to the YouTube community in many languages, BBC is taking an innovative step to engage with this large and diverse audience." says YouTube's Director of Video Partnerships for Europe Middle East and Africa Patrick Walker.