BBC Caribbean nears closure

(BBC)

Fri, February 25, 2011 - 12:30 PM

BBC Caribbean Service has only one month left in operation as it gets ready to end its broadcasts on March 25.

The decision by BBC World Service is part of cuts which will amount to over 600 jobs lost.

BBC said the closures were part of its response to a cut to its Grant-in-Aid funding from Britain’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO).

The final week of broadcasting by the Caribbean Service will include a regional call-in and discussion programme looking at the future of pan-Caribbean news and current affairs.

The last editions of the morning and evening drivetime editions of BBC Caribbean Report and BBC Caribbean Magazine will be aired on March 25.

Debbie Ransome, Head of BBC Caribbean Service said: “After one of our best years ever editorially, this has been a great blow for the team here.”

Controller, Languages at BBC World Service, Liliane Landor described BBC Caribbean as: “One of the oldest and most distinguished services that the BBC has provided in English.”

The Caribbean Service transmissions are used on 48 partner stations across the English, Spanish, and Dutch Caribbean and as part of the Caribbean stream on four FM relays in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and Antigua-Barbuda.

The early roots of the Caribbean Service began in 1939. (BBC)