• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 13, 2007

The British are coming--again. The BBC is launching a new hour-long U.S. newscast this fall. The net is making a bid for American TV audiences eager for international news but dissatisfied with domestic newscasts devoid of serious global coverage. Leveraging the BBC's reputation for top-notch foreign reporting, the new program cuts against the conventional wisdom that U.S. audiences don't care about events beyond their borders.

To coordinate the production, the BBC tapped Rome Hartman, a former "CBS Evening News" and "60 Minutes" producer. He is in charge of developing and executive producing a 7 p.m. newscast that will air on BBC America and BBC World News.

The new program is an expansion of the BBC's existing half-hour news offering "The World Programme," currently available to the 55 million households receiving the BBC America Network. "World Programme" also airs on public television.

The BBC is betting on a show that fills a niche in TV similar to the one The Economist fills in print. The London-based magazine saw circulation rise on the popularity of its in-depth international and financial reporting. In the most recent FAS-FAX report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which covers the second half of 2006, The Economist's newsstand sales rose 11.2% over the same period in 2005, as subscriptions grew 12.4% for a total circulation of over 639,000.

The BBC's new American newscast will draw on roughly 120 hours of news content produced daily by the BBC's reporting staff, comprised of more than 2,000 journalists worldwide. The BBC's extensive international staff is a legacy of the British Empire; as a result, it provides especially thorough coverage of African and Asian news.