The BBC World Service was intended for the subjects in the British Empire. After WWII, when the Empire faded into the British Commonwealth, the WS kept it informed, since the internet didn't exist until 1995. The BBC WS was funded by a grant from the Foreign Office, but now will be put into the regular BBC budget. Either way, the British taxpayer supported it one way or another. The BBC WS, in its heyday, was a vast far flung organization of transmitters, reporters, offices, translators, languages, all quite expensive and all paid for by the UK taxpayer. I enjoyed listening to the BBC WS of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, when it was a REAL world service, with news, information and all sorts of programs, ranging from documentaries, game shows, sports, history, country profiles, politics, science and much more. I also felt very lucky to be able to listen and somewhat guilty for not having to pay for it. To me, the old BBC WS as sort of an on-air evolving encyclopedia. I don't much care for what the BBC WS has degenerated into for the past 10 years. I can still get it on my shortwave set, but most of the time its as unpalatable as our cable news/propaganda channels. Even the Beebs news is slanted, much in the same manner and direction as NPR. Times change, people change and what was king yesterday will be replaced by something else tomorrow and that in turn will be replaced by something else next week. With this age of instant communications, everything happens and is forgotten much too fast for me. RIP BBC WS. Maybe someday it will come back.