STARS PROTEST AT THE CLOSURE OF BBC ASIAN NETWORK

Indian Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty attends a press conference in Mumbai protesting the closure

The British Broadcasting Corporation said Tuesday it would close the Asian Network and 6 Music radio stations from next year and slash spending on its online services.
The shake-up came after criticism of its market dominance.

• The changes, in a report entitled "Putting Quality First" are to free up an extra 600 million pounds to be spent on programme-making.
• However,Several Indian MPs, trade union leaders and musicians were protesting on the plans to close the Asian Network radio station.
• signatories included Lord Karan Bilimoria, the founder and chairman of Cobra Beer; England one-day international cricketer Vikram Solanki; "Bend It Like Beckham" film director Gurinder Chadha; musicians Asian Dub Foundation, Jazzie B and Apache Indian; comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar and Shazia Mirza; writer Meera Syal and Jay Sean, Shilpa Shetty and Amir Khan.
• Hip-hop artist Sean, Bollywood actress Shetty and world light welterweight boxing champion Khan said a key outlet for South Asian talent would be "tragically lost" if the station closed down.
• They were among 158 public figures who made the plea in a joint letter to The Guardian.
• "We are writing to express our profound shock at the BBC director general Mark Thompson's proposals to close down the BBC Asian Network as a national station," the signatories said.
• "The BBC we have grown up with has always prided itself on celebrating diversity.

Source: AFP