In a significant move, the BBC News channel is now freely accessible in Australia via the BBC.com website and the BBC app. This marks the first time the channel has offered unrestricted online access to Australian viewers.

The BBC's online platforms were revamped earlier this year and have been utilised to broadcast events such as the UK election results and performances from the Glastonbury festival.

The BBC News channel will provide live coverage of major news stories, along with a variety of other content. The channel has been covering the upcoming US election, including live coverage of the first US Presidential debate and ongoing reports from the Verify US team. Other highlights include sports news, the technology and travel programme TechXplore, interview series Influential with Katy Kay, Verified Live, Newsday & Business Today, Talking Movies, HARDtalk, The Travel Show, and BBC News investigations.

To access the live stream, Australian viewers can click the 'Watch live' button on BBC.com or find the live channel in the Live tab on the BBC app.

Fiona Lang, General Manager of BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, expressed her excitement about the development.

"We look forward to welcoming new audiences and serving existing viewers with live coverage from the biggest news stories in the world, as well as more gems from the channel�s wide-ranging content," she said.