BBC World News eyes bigger PH audience on SkyCableBBC World News, part of the BBC’s commercial group of companies, made a push for more viewers in the Philippines with a call on SkyCable Corporation, the country’s largest cable TV service provider.

Terri Seow, BBC World News head of Marketing for Asia Pacific, visited the Philippines with BBC World News anchor Rico Hizon, a Filipino broadcast journalist based in Singapore. The team met with the SkyCable sales team, introducing the channel and its heightened presence in Asia.

The BBC has one of the largest news gathering networks in the world with access to around 2,000 journalists and 70 bureaus globally.

“According to media brand values survey, we are the most trusted global news brand on television,” Seow said. The BBC is also the number one international news brand for Asia’s upmarket elite, according to the latest Synovate PAX survey through second quarter 2011.

Hizon presents the “Asia Business Report” and copresents “Newsday,” which airs weekday mornings (Manila time) on BBC World News. “Asia Business Report,” running on its eleventh consecutive year, provides live coverage and analysis of business and market news in Asia. “Newsday,” which premiered in June 2011, provides a summary of the day’s top stories from both an Asian and global perspective with Hizon in Singapore and copresenter Babita Sharma in the London headquarters of the BBC.

Hizon, who was a field reporter and news anchor for GMA Network from 1988 to 1995, concurrently hosted “Stock Market Live” on the ABS-CBN News Channel when it was still called the Sarimanok News Network. “This was from 1993 to 1995, before the ‘network wars’ and cable TV was not considered part of the war yet,” he recalled.

Mico Marco, SkyCable Corporation Program Content and Marketing manager, sees great potential for BBC World News in the Philippines.

“There is a big demand for BBC content globally. We believe there is a market, not just for BBC World News, but also for other BBC channels among SkyCable subscribers. This is just the beginning. We are studying the other BBC Worldwide channels like BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge, CBeebies and BBC HD,” he said.

BBC World News is available to all SkyCable digital subscribers.