is the
BBC 's general entertainment
TV Channel in
Europe ,
Africa and the
Middle East . It was launched in January, 1995, and began broadcasts in Africa in March, 1999. A version of the channel was launched in
Asia on December 1st, 2004. It broadcasts via
Satellite and
Cable , for 18 hours a day, with the remaining six hours being used for educational programmes for
BBC Learning .
BBC Prime is funded by
Subscription available either as part of a satellite package or as a stand-alone channel. As it also carries advertisements, it is not available in the
United Kingdom , as under the terms of the BBC's Charter, its domestic services cannot show advertising.
Owing to rights issues, much of the programming on BBC Prime is from the Corporation's archive. Among the more contemporary BBC programmes shown on BBC Prime are ''
Top Of The Pops '' and ''
EastEnders '', the latter of which debuted in Asia in January 2006.
This emphasis on archive programming, caused considerable annoyance to many British
Expatriate viewers, who had much preferred the mix of
BBC One and
Two previously offered by
BBC TV Europe and
BBC World Service Television .
Consequently, many people in mainland Europe bought viewing cards to receive full broadcasts of BBC One and Two from the UK, which prompted
GBC in
Gibraltar to end terrestrial retransmission of BBC Prime in 1999. Even after the BBC switched to broadcasting
Unencrypted on a
Satellite With A Much Weaker Signal , many people in
Spain and elsewhere could still receive these signals, particularly those who already had large satellite dishes.
BBC Prime is broadcast alongside BBC One and Two in the
Netherlands , which have long been available on
Cable Television , together with
BBC World . It is also available on
Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in the Netherlands, as well as the
Faroe Islands and
Malta . In February 2006, BBC Worldwide secured a slot for the channel in the Swedish DTT network.
The BBC argues that most of BBC Prime's viewers are not British, and often may not have English as a first language, hence the availability of
Subtitles in
Swedish ,
Danish ,
Norwegian ,
Czech ,
Polish ,
Romanian ,
Hungarian ,
Italian and
Hebrew .
Similarly, some programmes on BBC Prime in Africa are different from the European service, as many have already been licensed to
South Africa n broadcasters, and the service does not show BBC Learning.
In Asia the programming is completely different to take account of time zones and cultural differences, with subtitles in local languages like
Chinese ,
Thai , and
Korean . BBC Prime's Asian service is available in
Hong Kong ,
Thailand ,
Singapore , and
South Korea , but will become available on cable and satellite services in other countries in the region, including the
Philippines and
Taiwan . A similar channel, called
BBC Japan , launched in
Japan on December 1st, 2004.
