BBC Grand Anse Mahé station sells its assets |18 August 2014

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) relay station at Grand Anse Mahé has announced the sale by sealed bids of its assets on September 1, 2014.

The items on sale include office furniture like desks, chairs, tables and also workshop equipment like heavy duty drills to name some.

Having ceased transmission at its Grand Anse Mahé transmitter as from March 29 last year, the relay station is now in the de-commissioning process where it is winding down its operation there.

The station has dedicated Wednesday August 20, Thursday August 21 and Friday August 22 as viewing dates for members of the public. They will be given a list of items to choose from and thereon place their bids.

The last date for submission of bids is Friday August 29, 2014.

The BBC Indian Ocean Relay Station (IORS) at the Grand Anse Mahé was established in 1988 and has been in continuous service since then, relaying BBC broadcasts to audiences in East Africa primarily in English and Somali.

It was announced at that time the closure will not affect the availability of BBC World Service programmes in Seychelles, which are relayed from satellite broadcasts on to local FM frequencies 106.2, 105.6 and 105.2MHz. In areas of East Africa still dependent upon shortwave broadcasts, the signal will be supplied by other relay stations. The announcement that the relay station would cease its transmissions here followed an earlier decision to stop all shortwave broadcasts from the BBC World Service site in Cyprus for similar commercial, technological and audience reach reasons. These ended in March of this year.

The decision to close the site has been taken due to changing commercial and technological circumstances. As countries develop and their media markets open, listening and viewing habits have changed. New technology has changed the way audiences listen to BBC programmes and reduced the importance of shortwave broadcasts in much of the area currently served by the IORS, making the IORS commercially unviable.

The BBC is supporting the development of new delivery platforms such as internet and mobile streaming as well as FM radio and TV broadcasts. Shortwave broadcasts continue to regions and markets where listening remains strong and BBC services can be delivered efficiently to large geographic areas.

Interested bidders are asked to call 4381700 for enquiries.