The service was also guaranteed £289 million (allocated over a five-year period ending in 2020) from the UK government. The World Service is funded by the United Kingdom's television licence fee, limited advertising and the profits of BBC Studios. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s. In 2015, the World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week (via TV, radio and online). It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC.
