BBC Worldwide has confirmed the closure of two of its branded channels in India – BBC Entertainment and CBeebies – which will no longer be available after this month. BBC World News, the BBC’s international news and current affairs channel, will remain available to Indian viewers.

In an announcement via the BBC Entertainment Facebook page, the company said the decision to withdraw these BBC channels has not been an easy one to take. It added that India is a dynamic and fast growing media market but remains uniquely challenging for pay-TV channels. Specifically, delays in digitisation and the need for channel operators to pay cable platforms for carriage makes the economics of running channels very challenging at this time.

Despite this, BBC Worldwide remains committed to India, where BBC World News – the BBC’s international news and current affairs television channel – continues to be available across the market, along with the bbc.com and bbchindi.com websites, BBC Hindi radio and Global India, a new primetime programme produced by BBC Hindi TV which will launch on five ETV channels later this week.

BBC content will remain available on other channels, both terrestrial and cable, as well as digitally and on its YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/BBCWorldwide.

“We would like to thank our dedicated and loyal staff in India, Singapore and the UK, who have worked on BBC Entertainment and CBeebies, and our many viewers for their support and loyalty. We believe India is an exciting market and in the event of changes in the options available to us we would certainly consider re-launching our non-News channels in the market,” BBC said in the statement.