wedotv BIG stories Launches on Freeview UK Channel 275

9 March 2026

wedotv BIG stories Launches on Freeview UK Channel 275

wedotv movies now available on channel 98 as a DTT Channel with FAST, SSAI and CMP enabled

Freeview today welcomes the launch of wedotv BIG stories on Channel 275, further expanding its diverse content offering to UK audiences.

In addition, wedotv movies is now available on Channel 98 as a fully integrated DTT channel, combining traditional broadcast reach with advanced digital monetisation capabilities, including FAST architecture, Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI), and a Consent Management Platform (CMP).

Both channels are powered by cutting-edge technology from Synapse and facilitated by Global Distribution Services, a leading content aggregator and distributor on the UK DTT platform.

wedotv BIG stories brings viewers a compelling slate of high-quality factual and documentary programming, while wedotv movies offers a curated selection of popular films, now enhanced through hybrid broadcast and streaming capabilities. The integration of FAST, SSAI, and CMP ensures scalable monetisation, targeted advertising, and compliance with evolving privacy standards.

Global Distribution Services currently operates 140 TV channels on Freeview, reinforcing its position as one of the largest channel aggregators on the platform. Through its partnership with Synapse, Global Distribution Services continues to enable broadcasters and content owners to launch and monetise channels efficiently across the UK’s leading free-to-air ecosystem.

Tanya Kronfli, CEO of Global Distribution Services, commented: “We are proud to support wedotv in expanding its footprint on Freeview. By leveraging Synapse’s technology stack — including FAST, SSAI, and CMP — we are enabling a seamless blend of linear broadcast and IP innovation. This launch reflects our commitment to delivering scalable, future-ready channel solutions while maximising reach and monetisation opportunities on the UK’s leading free-to-air platform.”

Philipp Rotermund, CEO of wedotv, added: “The launch of wedotv BIG stories on Freeview marks another important milestone in our UK expansion. We are delighted to strengthen our presence on the platform and to bring engaging, high-quality storytelling to a wider audience. With wedotv movies now available as a DTT channel powered by advanced ad-tech capabilities, we are combining the scale of broadcast with the precision and flexibility of digital.”

This dual launch highlights the ongoing evolution of the Freeview platform, blending broadcast distribution with IP-delivered innovation to provide viewers with more choice and advertisers with enhanced opportunities.

ABC champions Southeast Asian emerging media leaders with new Future Voices programme

7 March 2026

ABC champions Southeast Asian emerging media leaders with new Future Voices programme

ABC International’s media development unit, ABC International Development (ABCID), has launched an innovative three-year programme called Future Voices, offering hands-on leadership and digital journalism training to Southeast Asia’s next generation of media leaders.

The programme’s launch coincides with Australia hosting the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup and some participants are spending two-weeks in Brisbane and the Gold Coast where they will receive on-the-ground mentoring and mobile journalism training at matches and earn a micro-credential in Leadership and Sports Diplomacy at Griffith University.

ABC International Head Claire M. Gorman said, “We are proud to launch this significant new programme, leveraging the ABC’s expertise in building and managing independent, ethical and inclusive newsrooms and sharing these skills with our colleagues across the region. Future Voices will strengthen Australian connections with Asia, building meaningful relationships with and between the region’s media organisations and this year, championing female participation in news and sports media.”

ABCID Manager Jo Elsom said the new programme will equip young media professionals with a suite of practical reporting skills, strengthening their capacity to elevate coverage of cultural and sporting events in their own countries.

“Programme graduates will have the unique opportunity to practice commentary, interviews, and match-day reporting in real time at a major international women’s sporting event, developing high-quality, multi-platform sport content in a fast-paced environment. Combined with their course at Griffith University, they will return to their media organisations with important new leadership and management skills.”

“It’s critical that we continue enhancing the capability of our media leaders across our region, to encourage diverse and independent reporting – Future Voices gives journalists from across our region such a wonderful opportunity to build connections and deepen their skills.”

Head of the ASEAN-Australia Centre, Fiona Hoggart, said the Centre is dedicated to championing initiatives like Future Voices that build capability and deepen Australia’s connections with Southeast Asia.

“The ASEAN-Australia Centre is proud to support such a valuable programme,” Ms Hoggart said. “Future Voices not only strengthens our partnerships in Southeast Asia, it gives young journalists the chance to build practical skills and supports quality reporting across our region as Australia hosts the Women’s Asian Cup.

“Participants will form relationships with colleagues from across Australia and Southeast Asia that will last for years to come.”

Griffith University Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Caitlin Byrne AM said, “Griffith University is committed to supporting a strong and vibrant media landscape across the Asia–Pacific. We are delighted to partner with the ABC to equip sports journalists from the region with the skills and confidence to lead informed, meaningful public discourse within a rapidly evolving media environment.”

Future Voices aims to deepen Australia’s regional connections and foster a peaceful, prosperous Southeast Asia, with a new cohort entering the program each year, and is supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s ASEAN-Australia Centre.

ABC Radio Australia launches on DAB+

4 March 2026

ABC Radio Australia launches on DAB+

ABC Radio Australia is now available on DAB+ digital radio in Australia, making it easier than ever for Pacific communities to connect with trusted news, music, sport and culture from home.

Listeners in Australian capital cities, the Gold Coast and Launceston can tune in to ABC Radio Australia on DAB+, bringing the ABC’s international Pacific and Timor-Leste broadcast service to digital radio for the first time in Australia.

ABC Radio Australia offers 24-hour programming including Pacific-focused news and current affairs, music, sport and cultural storytelling. The service has long been available internationally, and via the ABC Pacific website and ABC listen app, and its arrival on DAB+ expands access for audiences across Australia.

The service showcases Pacific voices and perspectives, with content reflecting life, culture and conversations from countries including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Northern Pacific, alongside stories about Pacific communities living in Australia.

ABC Director Audio Ben Latimer said the launch was about meeting audiences where they are and deepening connections with Pacific communities. “ABC Radio Australia plays a vital role in reflecting Pacific voices and experiences and connecting communities across our region.

“Making the service available on DAB+ expands access even further, helping more people engage with trusted Pacific news, culture and storytelling – in the car, at home, and in everyday life.”

Head of ABC International Claire Gorman said, “With support from the Australian government, ABC Radio Australia has doubled its broadcast footprint in the Pacific in recent years, and tripled its unique content, bringing the best news, sport, music and culture to Pacific audiences.

“It is only fitting that this is now easily available to Australian audiences on DAB+, so they can learn and engage more with the diverse and important Pacific region.”

Listeners can find ABC Radio Australia by scanning for DAB+ stations on their digital radio, alongside other ABC networks DAB+ networks ABC Jazz, ABC Country, Double J, ABC Sport, triple j Unearthed and ABC Kids listen.

Information about DAB+ including availability and tuning instructions can be found on the ABC’s Help page.

ABC Radio Australia is also available on ABC listen.

BBC News Uzbek launches on TikTok

3 March 2026

BBC News Uzbek launches on TikTok

BBC News Uzbek (BBC News O‘zbek) has expanded its social-media reach with the launch of its channel on TikTok where the @bbcnewsuzbek feed now brings videos to Uzbek-speakers – in Uzbekistan, Central Asia and beyond.

The BBC News Uzbek newly launched TikTok channel adds to the service’s social-media presence: on YouTube (more than 2 million subscribers), Instagram, Facebook (with separate feeds for audiences in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, using different scripts), X, Telegram, WhatsApp, and the Russian network OK.ru.

Across its digital platforms, BBC News Uzbek reaches a weekly audience of 1.67 million people – an increase of 37% since the year before. The launch of the @bbcnewsuzbek feed on TikTok builds on the success of the service’s presence on Instagram where around 800,000 people engage with its content every week.

BBC News Uzbek News Editor, Khayrullo Fayz describes the launch on TikTok as a natural next step in better serving younger audiences: “We have always prioritised meaningful conversations, producing unique and original journalism that serves our audiences in Uzbekistan and the wider region. TikTok is another platform through which we can deliver our offer to younger generations of Uzbek-speakers, wherever they are: reporting and explaining the news, listening to our audiences and asking questions, with them and for them, to understand the issues that matter, as well as tackling disinformation and misinformation with the BBC’s impartial and independent journalism.”

In addition to current news, the BBC News Uzbek feed on TikTok will bring content on subjects that are in demand with its audience, including health, education, and history.

BBC News Uzbek is part of the BBC World Service.

NHK WORLD-JAPAN Radio begins shortwave for Iran

2 March 2026

NHK WORLD-JAPAN Radio begins shortwave for Iran

In light of recent developments in the situation in Iran, NHK has begun temporary shortwave transmissions of its Japanese language international radio service, NHK WORLD-JAPAN Radio. NHK’s mission as an international public service media has led to this initiative to provide essential information to Japanese nationals residing in or travelling in the region.

Following the attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel, Internet connectivity and international telephone services in the region have become unstable resulting in limited access to information in Japanese. In response NHK has begun temporary shortwave transmissions of its Japanese language international radio service to provide essential information to Japanese nationals in the area the broadcast started at 11:30 AM Japan time (0230 GMT) on 1 March.

NHK normally broadcast six hours of shortwave programming every day to the Middle East. However, in view of the current situation the broadcast schedule has been expanded to provide a continuous 24-hour service. In addition to content from NHK Radio 1, the broadcasts will include safety and security information for those in the region.

For those in neighbouring countries or other areas where Internet access remains available NHK also provides Japanese language news on the NHK world Japan website, along with simultaneous and on demand streaming of its television and radio programmes.

The transmission schedule is:

Transmissions from the Yamata Transmitting Station (Japan)

The transmission schedule is:

Transmissions from the Yamata Transmitting Station (Japan)

Time (JST) Frequency

01:00–02:00	11915 kHz
02:00–04:00	11670 kHz
04:00–06:00	9665 kHz
06:00–08:00	11675 kHz
08:00–10:00	11660 kHz
10:00–14:00	17560 kHz
14:00–18:00	9700 kHz
18:00–22:00	9740 kHz
22:00–23:00	11685 kHz
23:00–01:00	9450 kHz

Transmissions from the France Relay Station (Issoudun)

Time (JST) Frequency

02:00–04:00	11800 kHz
12:00–14:00	6150 kHz

Japan Standard Time is nine hours ahead of GMT/UTC.

Trailblazing surgeon Professor Kelvin Kong delivers 2026 Wang Gungwu Lecture

12 February 2026

Trailblazing surgeon Professor Kelvin Kong delivers 2026 Wang Gungwu Lecture

Surgical pioneer Professor Kelvin Kong AM presents the 2026 Wang Gungwu Lecture, premiering on Friday 20 February at 8:00pm AEDT on ABC Australia and ABC iview.

In its fifth year, the annual Wang Gungwu Lecture celebrates the contributions of inspiring Chinese Australians to business, science, politics, education, sport and culture.

Professor Kong is a proud Worimi man of Chinese Malaysian heritage and recognised as Australia’s first Indigenous surgeon. He has dedicated his life to improving the health of others through his work in paediatric and adult otolaryngology, head and neck surgery and his distinguished career spans medicine and policy development with a focus on improving health outcomes for Indigenous communities.

In an uplifting address delivered at Parliament House’s Great Hall in Canberra, Kong honours the sacrifices of his Chinese ancestors who endured war and poverty and his Aboriginal family members who faced structural barriers and policies of exclusion.

Kong also addresses the ongoing challenges faced by Chinese and First Nations peoples who experience racism, microaggressions and assumptions around identity, and reflects on his own experiences navigating his identity and a sense of belonging.

“I’m so humbled by this,” Professor Kong said upon finding out he had been offered to deliver this year’s lecture. “There are so many amazing Chinese Australians in this country that I put on a pedestal and I’m probably sitting on the bottom of that list, so to think that I’m worthy of a conversation makes me extremely honoured.”

Minister for International Development, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. Dr. Anne Aly said, Chinese-Australians are the largest multicultural community in the country. Spanning many generations, languages and origins, contributing to every aspect of Australian society.

“Our national story weaves ancient songlines and migrant journeys, with inspiring Australians such as Professor Kelvin Kong AM bringing that story to life. As a Worimi man of Malaysian Chinese heritage, he embodies the intersection of histories that have shaped this country and demonstrates how diversity strengthens our institutions and our shared sense of purpose.”

ABC International Head Claire M. Gorman said, “We are delighted to be bringing Professor Kong’s story to audiences in Australia and to the Asia Pacific across our ABC TV, digital and social platforms, celebrating a unique First Nations and Chinese migrant experience. This is our fifth year of working with the National Foundation of Australia China Relations in producing the Wang Gungwu lecture. It’s a productive partnership which provides a vehicle for us to tell the story of modern Australia to audiences across our region.”

Chair of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations and the lecture’s host Marina Go AM, said “Professor Kong is an inspiration. He brings to his lecture his skill as a surgeon, a sense of awe at the gift of hearing, and authenticity as a storyteller. As he highlights in his own life the extraordinary contributions of both Chinese-Australians and the Traditional Owners, he brings us together as a nation”.

About the Wang Gungwu Lecture

The annual Wang Gungwu Lecture, named after eminent Chinese historian Professor Wang Gungwu AO, CBE, celebrates the substantial and longstanding contributions of Chinese Australians to Australia’s national story.

The Lecture is a partnership between ABC International and the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, an initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Previous speakers have included Olympic diving champion Melissa Wu OLY, business leader Ming Long AM, Australian Children’s Laureate and author/illustrator Gabrielle Wang, and former Australian of the Year and paediatrician Dr John Yu AC.

Where to watch:

The 2026 Wang Gungwu Lecture will premiere on ABC Australia and ABC iview at 8:00pm AEDT on Friday 20 February.
It will also be available on demand via ABC Asia from 9:00am AEDT on Saturday 21 February.