BBC World News timeline

1991 - World Service Television launches with its first half-hour bulletin across Europe. Seven months later, new deals make the channel available across Asia and the Middle East. In November, BBC World Service Television becomes a 24-hour channel. 

1992 - The channel becomes available in Africa for the first time.

1995 - World Service Television relaunches as BBC World and starts a new translation service for Japanese audiences.

1996 - BBC World launches in Latin America and is awarded terrestrial frequency in Berlin, the first foreign broadcaster anywhere to be granted such a licence.

1997 - BBC News launches its website – BBC.com.

1998 - BBC World moves to the world’s first ever 24-hour fully digital newsroom and begins broadcasting bulletins on public service stations across the US.

2002 - BBC World distribution exceeds 100 million full-time homes for the first time.

2003 - BBC World becomes available full-time in United Nations headquarters in New York.

2004 - BBC World becomes available in more than a million hotel rooms globally.

2005 – BBC launches its User Generated Content Hub to address the increasing amount of footage being submitted by members of the public.

2007 - BBC World News America launches on BBC World and public television, delivering in-depth reports and analysis on major international news stories across the US.

2008 - BBC World changes its name to BBC World News and brings the channel closer to the BBC’s TV, radio, online and newsgathering teams.

2009 - BBC World News launches an app on tablets and smartphones in 16 European countries.

2010 - BBC World News extends its app to 15 new countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

2012 - The BBC’s commercially funded bbc.com/news and BBC World News services are merged under BBC Global News Ltd.

2013 - BBC World News relocates to a state-of-the-art multimedia newsroom alongside the World Service’s 29 language services, the BBC’s domestic news teams and all of the BBC’s London-based TV, radio, online and social media teams. The building houses 3,000 journalists, production and operational staff and means that the UK and global services are co-ordinated from one location, enabling colleagues to share production and coverage of breaking stories around the world.

Two brand-new HD studios transform the range and quality of output, offering full HD production, virtual reality and enhanced graphics. Robotic cameras mounted on a track give programmes dynamic movement, fluidity and an exciting range of camera shots.

2014 - BBC is identified as a leader in global breaking news and the most-shared news brand on Twitter. It launches Outside Source – an innovative, interactive news show for the digital age which uses state-of-the-art touch-screen technology to access a plethora of visual, aural and social media sources which bring the latest stories of the day to life.

2015 - BBC launches a new version of its international app, offering personalised news covering over 50,000 topics, and pilots new virtual voice-over technology to produce voiced and subtitled online news packages in different languages.

2016 - BBC World News celebrates its 25th anniversary with record figures of 85 million viewers per week.