BBC Hindi shuts down!

According to the CIA World Fact Book, there are approximately 44,000 radio stations worldwide; and according to Internet World Stats, there are more than 337 million radio listeners in the US and more than 800 million in Europe! However, with the advent of cable television and Internet, radio has inevitably lost its popularity with rapidly dipping budgets and frequently occurring closures! And in the era where capitalist profits take precedence over socialist information dissemination, it is but inevitable that lack of advertisements will lead to even iconic channels getting shut down.

The most glaring example of this is the shutdown of BBC Hindi. Ironically, the channel will be shut down from April 1, 2011. This has happened as a consequence of the curtailed funding by UK government towards BBC World Service programs. Although BBC is no stranger to shutdowns – they've closed down 40 odd channels over the years; and this time, 8 other channels are getting shut down along with BBC Hindi, leading to a cumulative 30 million listener base getting wiped out – yet, BBC Hindi's closure would leave a void.

Their Hindi service had been a medium of quite apolitical information in general, especially during momentous points in history – like the 1971 India-Pakistan war, or the 1975-77 Emergency, or the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, or the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War – when BBC's news service provided news free of either Indian or Pakistani political influence.

Having said that, BBC has also succumbed to partisan coverage in the between, not just in India but even globally! For instance, Israeli actions deflating the peace process was severely criticized, whereas, similar actions by Palestinians were overlooked. In 2010, BBC claimed the Ethiopian government used aid money for weapons. Later, in November, they were forced to apologise. In earlier years too, under the garb of stereotyped comedy, BBC has tried to pass off tasteless sarcastic comments against individuals and nationalities.

Irrespective of this, BBC Hindi had created its niche within India. A few eminent personalities and intellectuals have signed a petition titled ‘Don’t silence the BBC Hindi radio’; the signatories include Mark Tully, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Bedi, Ramchandra Guho, to name a few. But as is apparent, this has been done more as a farewell gift to the news service than with any hope of revival. So does BBC Hindi's shutdown give a competitive  advantage to any other competing channel? Oh, come of it; who listened to BBC Hindi anyway? Did you?