MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels and Telekom Slovenia today announced a brand new distribution deal that will see the launch of BBC Knowledge for the first time on 1 April.

Slovenia is now the fourth country in Central and Eastern Europe to receive BBC Knowledge. The channel launched in Romania and Hungary in January this year and Cyprus in early February.

The new agreement with Telekom Slovenia will see BBC Knowledge joining BBC Entertainment and BBC World News, boosting the BBC channels? portfolio and presence in Slovenia. BBC Knowledge will be available in the Extended Basic IPTV and Basic Cable package on SIOL TV, reaching over 64,000 subscribers.

BBC Worldwide Channels senior VP, GM Europe, Middle East and Afirica Ian McDonough commented: ?We are absolutely delighted that BBC Knowledge will be available to Telekom Slovenia viewers from 1 April this year. The channel?s award-winning, factual programming is truly at its best this Spring with two phenomenal seasons posing life?s big questions including ?Human Season? and ?War on the Frontline?. And with recent deals in Romania, Hungary, Cyprus and now Slovenia, it is our intention to continue feeding the appetite for BBC Knowledge in the CEE region during 2013?.
 
Telekom Slovenije marketing director Simon Furlan commented, ?Novelties and improvements that we provide for our customers within our programme scheme are the result of their high standards and expectations. I am convinced that the new BBC Knowledge channel, which will be fully subtitled, offering rich and high-quality educational contents, will meet the high demands of our viewers.?
BBC Knowledge showcases British factual and natural history programming.

BBC Entertainment is already shown on Telekom Slovenia SiOL IP TV service in English and BBC Knowledge will follow its lead.

MUMBAI: As part of its restructuring exercise, BBC has combined the functions of chief operating officer and the chief financial officer under one person.

Anne Bulford has been made MD finance and operations, making her run the twin roles of COO and CFO.

Bulford, who will sit on the BBC?s Executive and Worldwide Boards, will oversee the finance, operations, technology, legal, risk and assurance and property functions. The role will also cover commercial rights and business affairs.

Her appointment follows the announcement last year that the BBC?s current CFO Zarin Patel will be stepping down. It also follows the closure of the COO post last September.

Incoming DG Tony Hall said, "Anne?s appointment is another significant step towards building a senior management team with the creative and strategic skills to lead the BBC for the next decade. She is a remarkable talent with a very impressive track record and we are very lucky to have secured her skills for the BBC in such a competitive market. I would also like to thank Zarin for her excellent stewardship of the Finance division over the last eight years."

Bulford is currently Channel 4 COO. She said, "I am really looking forward to returning to the BBC. I have such great respect for the organisation and cannot wait to come back and be a part of the new management team. I am also very pleased to be working with Tony once again."

Bulford begins her new role this summer. She will be paid a total package of ?395,000.

NEW DELHI: After charges last year that its television signals had been blocked, the British Broadcasting Corporation has now said that radio broadcasts of BBC World Service in English are being jammed in China.

"The BBC has received reports that World Service English shortwave frequencies are being jammed in China," the public service broadcaster said, adding that it ?strongly condemns this action which is designed to disrupt audiences? free access to news and information."

"Though it is not possible at this stage to attribute the source of the jamming definitively, the extensive and coordinated efforts are indicative of a well-resourced country such as China," a statement issued in London said.

The BBC said it had experienced jamming of satellite broadcasts over the past two years, and that while shortwave jamming was generally less frequent, it did also affect Persian-language transmissions in Iran.

"The jamming of shortwave transmissions is being timed to cause maximum disruption to BBC World Service English broadcasts in China," said BBC Global News Director Peter Horrocks.

"The deliberate and coordinated efforts by authorities in countries such as China and Iran illustrate the significance and importance of the role the BBC undertakes to provide impartial and accurate information to audiences around the world."

China, which enforces strict restrictions on its domestic media, has been accused by several prominent foreign media of seeking to stop their news reports reaching Chinese audiences.

It is not the first time the BBC had complained of disruption to its services in China, where its website has been consistently blocked. It accused the Chinese authorities of jamming its BBC World News TV channel last year when it broadcast stories regarded as sensitive, such as reports on dissident Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest and sought refuge in the U.S. embassy.

Other foreign broadcasters including U.S. state-funded radio stations Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have also complained of Beijing blocking access to their programs.

The New York Times reported on 30 January that Chinese hackers had been attacking its computer systems while it was working on an investigative report in October last year on the fortune accumulated by relatives of outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.

China is listed at number 173 out of 179 countries on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by campaign group Reporters Without Border.

MUMBAI: Mentorn Media has been commissioned by BBC Three to make a fast-turnaround special on the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, allegedly shot to death by her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius. The programme will be pre-sold by Passion Distribution.

Pistorius, who won two Gold medals and a Silver at the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, is accused of murder, though pleads not guilty.

The one hour special is commissioned by Fiona Campbell of the BBC and the executive producer for Mentorn is Steve Anderson. The producer/director is Nick London and associate producer is Shekhar Bhatia. The presenter is Rick Edwards, who recently made his debut fronting BBC Three?s Free Speech and who presented Paralympics coverage for Channel 4.

Mentorn made BBC Three?s recent fast-turnaround special ?Superstorm Sandy: Caught On Camera? and were also in South Africa to make ?Dispatches: Murder On Honeymoon? on the case of Anni Dewani.

BBC Three controller Zai Bennett said, "BBC Three is never afraid to tackle current affairs and we are committed to showing bold, thought-provoking programmes for 16-34s. Mentorn will be producing this programme at incredible speed, and together with presenter Rick Edwards, I?m sure they will deliver a documentary that will bring a new angle to this ever developing news story."

Anderson said, "The story of Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp has captured everyone?s attention. It is hugely important and Mentorn has the expertise to deliver it quickly to BBC Three."