BFBS Update July 2026

As many of us head off for summer leave, at BFBS our thoughts and support are also with our armed forces who are deployed or exercising overseas or at sea, as well as those who are beginning a new posting – such as 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards as the unit moves to Cyprus for two years. Wherever you are based BFBS has plenty to keep you entertained and in touch with home...read about some of the brilliant content on our TV, radio, and digital platforms below.

In this update we also share top picks from our Forces News team who use their specialist military knowledge to produce unique, trusted, and exclusive content to help unpack the many global Defence issues in the headlines.

We’ve got features on our BFBS Esports Pro League Grand Final at the end of September, and share news of our latest tech demonstrations at military sites. I'd also like to highlight the piece about the publication of an important 'Guide for Servicewomen Preparing for Arduous Courses' produced by our BFBS Creative team.

For personnel working away from home, and for those heading on some well-earned leave, I wish you all the very best!

Ben Chapman

CEO BFBS

Our compelling 'unfiltered' walking interview with 1SL on board HMS Daring has had 827k views. 25% of the YouTube long form audience were under the age of 34, and we saw high engagement on quickfire questions designed for social media platforms.

At HMNB Portsmouth our Defence-targeted interview with Prime Minister Andy Burnham included his thoughts on kit, HMS Prince of Wales's tour, recognising service, and his support for Ukraine. And from the same location, we livestreamed the return of HMS Prince of Wales (55k views), and HMS Duncan (45k views) with wonderfully warm messages shared from families.

We also covered the King meeting aviators who protect Cyprus, followed soldiers through Close Quarter Battle training in Brecon, and investigated Russian disinformation hitting UKAF news sources.

Our sit-down interview with DSACEUR for Sitrep generated our second highest audience on YouTube for the podcast and included highly knowledgeable commentary from the audience. And finally...our Forces News Instagram account has just hit 200,000 followers – you can join the community here.

After months of qualifying stages, this year’s BFBS Pro League will culminate with the Grand Final featuring Rocket League on Sunday 27 September at the Royal Air Force Museum, London.  

This year’s final will be the biggest BFBS Esports event to date, offering spectators and guests a celebration of esports, gaming, military innovation, and Defence engagement including simulators and gaming with RAFAC, Royal Navy STEM activities, and live music performances from the British Army Rifles Band and cadet band.  

Look out for more details on all the activities at the RAF Museum and how to watch the livestream at bfbsesports.com.

How do you  turn a decade of scientific research into something people can actually use? That was the challenge BFBS Creative helped solve with the British Army’s Science of Human Performance: A Guide for Servicewomen Preparing for Arduous Courses. The 87-page digital and print resource marks a first for UK Defence. Working alongside the Army’s research team, we translated extensive evidence, including research addressing a longstanding gender data gap in military performance, into practical guidance for servicewomen preparing for some of the military’s toughest training, alongside the commanders, PTIs, and healthcare professionals who support them. Since its launch, the guide has received national media coverage. Read the full case study to learn more about its development and impact. 

If you’d like to see more of the thinking behind our work, The Comms Dispatch is where we share weekly insight, ideas, and practical perspectives from across BFBS Creative. Over the past few months, we’ve taken readers behind the scenes of our latest work with RAF Specialist Recruitment and explored topics including ethical storytelling, digital behaviour, UK Defence recruitment, misinformation and disinformation, and the gap between public perception and reality.  

Subscribe to The Comms Dispatch on LinkedIn or catch up on previous editions on our website. 

We’ve recently been demonstrating some of our technology development at several MOD and industry events. With our friends from Network Innovations we showed the integration of BFBS TV, radio and digital print content services via both our traditional GEO (geostationary earth orbit) and Oneweb LEO (low earth orbit) satellite services in a classic military field scenario. And at MOD Stafford at the Team Aurora Skynet Capability Day we combined the GEO and LEO capabilities from Starlink. 

Why is this significant? As the nature of deployments on land and at sea evolve it is important to ensure the agility and availability of our welfare services. Ships can operate outside of GEO coverage (e.g., High North), and deployments can be highly mobile meaning a traditional TV dish or terminal can be impractical. But when they are attached to our BFBS MiPlayer – which we demonstrated operating with this hybrid orbit configuration – the maximum welfare content can be made available at all times.  

Find out more about the BFBS MiPlayer here. 

This summer’s BFBS TV line-up has been dominated by sport as we brought the BBC and ITV’s coverage of the World Cup to our audiences overseas and at sea, with all home nations and knock-out rounds available live across all time zones. We have also been thrilled to bring our audiences House of the Dragon season 3 (Sky and HBO Max) on BFBS TV on the same day as release in the UK. 

Kicking off today we’ll have the Scottish Premiership and look forward to offering the English Premier and Football Leagues in August, supported by our partnership with Sky Sports. And alongside the sport, we’ll have BFBS TV premieres of Netflix sci-fi The One and HBO Max medical drama The Pitt. 

See the full BFBS TV schedules here.  

Last October our Live Events team produced an incredible dockside show in the Middle East, in front of HMS Prince of Wales, attended by roughly 2500 sailors as well as army and RAF personnel from across the Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group. The BFBStival branded show featured performances from comedian Matt Reid, the BFBS Dancers, live music from Steph Willis and Boomin, and a headline set from drum and bass legends Sigma.  

So we are really chuffed that their work for the UK Armed Forces has been rewarded with two Gold Awards and a Silver at the EVCOM Clarion Awards 2026 which recognise purpose-driven film and events across the media industry.  

We’re also very proud of two other BFBS teams who were shortlisted for awards. Our Social Media team were nominated in the Best Use Of Social Media at the Third Sector Awards 2026 for this year’s Op TELIC – 15 Years On campaign, while Sitrep was again nominated for Best News at the ARIAS (Audio and Radio Industry Awards) which celebrate excellence in UK radio, podcasts, and audio production.

And finally…we’re excited to announce the launch of our Big Salute 2026 Campaign – the Op Summit Challenge. Can you help us climb our way to a mountain of cash for military charities, by taking part in a sponsored climb? 

Don’t worry if you haven’t got a mountain nearby, as you can climb the nearest hill, climb the stairs in your school or office, or climb the cross-trainer in the gym, or even just use a step. BFBS teams around the world will also be doing their own climbs, and we’ll hear from all of them on BFBS Radio as we had towards BFBS Big Salute Day on Thursday 8th October. For all the info head to bfbs.com/summit.  

Thank you for your support!