News In Brief

BBC seeking TV service for N. America, Europe

The British Broadcasting Corporation said Monday it will seek government support to launch an international television service for North America and Western Europe. The BBC, which claims to have some 100 million regular radio listeners worldwide, said the new service could start up within a year, for $7 million.

The programs would be sent from London by satellite and could then be rebroadcast or fed into existing cable systems in North America and Europe, the BBC said.

According to a press report, the publicly owned BBC eventually hopes to expand its service to cover Arab countries, Southeast Asia, and the third world.