FY 2009 Budget Request for U.S. International Broadcasting

February 07, 2008 | Washington, DC.

The fiscal year 2009 budget request for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) introduces new broadcast initiatives to reach audiences in critical areas of the world, including the Middle East, Iran, Somalia, Russia, China and Venezuela.

The Administration’s FY 2009 request for the BBG is $699.5 million dollars, an increase of 2.6% from FY 2008 levels. A key focus of the budget request is on building a significant expansion of Internet capability and programming.  The Internet is a key source of news and information around the world, and also serves as a means of circumventing jamming and other government interference in our broadcasts.

The proposed budget also continues funding initiatives to important Muslim and other critical audiences, including:

• 24-hour streams for VOA Persian TV and Radio Farda to Iran;

• A daily three-hour live Alhurra television program broadcast from the Middle East, 24/7 news coverage by Alhurra, and customized news content on Radio Sawa, all in Arabic;

• Radio Deewa, VOA Pashto programming, to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region as well as VOA Urdu radio and television broadcasts to Pakistan;

• VOA and RFE/RL Dari and Pashto programming to Afghanistan;

• VOA Somali to Somalia; and

• A 10-hour coordinated RFA and VOA stream to North Korea.

The BBG is in the forefront of combating global extremism by promoting freedom and democracy and enhancing understanding through multi-media communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas. According to audience research, 155 million people around the world listen to or watch BBG programming at least once a week. Of this audience, 35 million are Arabic speakers, and another 25 million live in critical Muslim nations in Asia. BBG broadcasts in 60 languages -- more than any other international radio and TV service.

For more information about the FY 2009 budget request, please visit http://www.bbg.gov/reports/bbg_fy09_budget_request.pdf

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency which supervises all U.S. government-supported, non-military international broadcasting, including the Voice of America (VOA); Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL); the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa); Radio Free Asia (RFA); and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí). Current governors are Chairman James K. Glassman, Joaquin F. Blaya, Blanquita W. Cullum, D. Jeffrey Hirschberg, Edward E. Kaufman, and Steven J. Simmons. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is an ex officio member.