The UK’s international radio broadcaster BBC World Service will carry commercials globally for the first time in its 82 year history from April 1.

The channel’s director Peter Horrocks, told staff that “The BBC Trust has agreed that, subject to clearance from government, the World Service can broadcast a limited amount of advertising and sponsored content that is not news and current affairs”.

Commercials are expected to offset some of the US$407 million (£245 million) cost of running the service.

BBC WS is facing ongoing budget cuts due to the health of the British government’s finances. For years, its budget was met by the UK Foreign Office, but from April it will be paid for out of the licence fee, an annual levy on British households.

Unions believe advertising threatens the impartiality of the service, which in 1996 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described as “perhaps Britain’s greatest gift given to the world this century”.

One media analyst told Asia Radio Today that the BBC World Service had been “shirking commercial realities for far too long”.

BBC bosses have promised that standards won’t be compromised.

Director-General Tony Hall wrote in the Independent: “This is an economic necessity, but let me stress – its future is safe in our hands. Advertisements will never get in the way of our output nor be a dominant part of it. Commercial activity will remain a small part of our funding and there will be no advertising in the UK. The BBC’s reputation for providing impartial and independent news will always take precedence.”

In 2012, The BBC conducted a small trial allowing commercials to air on a Berlin-based FM rebroadcaster of the BBC World Service.