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For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation).
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
TypeBroadcast radio and
television
Country
United Kingdom
AvailabilityNational; international (via BBC Worldwide, BBC World Service and bbc.co.uk)
Motto"Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation"
Key people
Mark Thompson, Director-General; Michael Grade, Chairman
Launch date
1922 (radio); 1932 (television)
Former names
British Broadcasting Company Ltd. (1922-1927)
Official website
www.bbc.co.uk

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, also known as the Beeb or Auntie), founded in 1922, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world.[1] It produces programmes and information services, broadcasting on television, radio, and the Internet The mission of the BBC is to inform, educate and entertain,[2] and the motto of the BBC is Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation.

Its domestic programming and broadcasts are primarily funded by levying television licence fees (under the Wireless & Telegraphy Act 1947), although there is also money raised through commercial activities such as sale of merchandise. In order to justify the licence fee the BBC is expected to produce a number of high-rating shows in addition to programmes that commercial broadcasters would not normally broadcast.[3]

Quite often domestic audiences have affectionately referred to the BBC as the Beeb, or as Auntie; the latter said to originate in the somewhat old fashioned Auntie knows best[4] attitude dating back to the early days when John Reith was in charge.

History

Main article: Timeline of the BBC
File:BBC Coatofarms.JPG
The BBC coat of arms

The original British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1922 by a group of telecommunications companies (including subsidiaries of General Electric and AT&T) to broadcast experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November of that year.

The Company, with John Reith as general manager, became the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter of incorporation and ceased to be privately owned. It started experimental television broadcasting in 1932, becoming a regular service (known as the BBC Television Service) in 1936. Television broadcasting was suspended from 1 September, 1939 to 7 June, 1946 during the Second World War. A widely reported legend is that upon resumption of service announcer Leslie Mitchell started with "as I was saying before we were so rudely interupted...." In fact, the first person to appear when transimission resumed was Jasmine Bligh (who had also been the last person on air when transmission was interrupted) and the words uttered were “Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh...?” [5]

Competition to the BBC was introduced in 1955 with the commercially and independently operated ITV. The BBC introduced a second TV channel, (BBC 2), in 1964, renaming the existing channel BBC 1. BBC 2 was broadcast in colour from 1 July, 1967, and was joined by BBC 1 and ITV on 15 November, 1969.

Since the deregulation of the UK television and radio market in the 1980s, the BBC has faced increased competition from the commercial sector (and from the advertiser-funded public service broadcaster Channel 4), especially on satellite television, cable television, and digital television services.

The BBC Research Department has played a major part in the development of broadcasting and recording techniques. In the early days it carried out essential research into acoustics, programme level measurement, and noise measurement and established standards that rapidly spread, particularly throughout the British Empire. In this respect it filled a role that is now lacking in many areas, since it was motivated by the desire for quality, not profit.[citation needed]

Historical logos

The Corporation

Royal Charter

The BBC is a quasi-autonomous Public Corporation operating as a public service broadcaster incorporated under a Royal Charter reviewed on a 10 yearly basis. The Corporation is currently run by a board of governors appointed by the government for a term of four years, though this is soon to be replaced with a BBC Trust.[6]. The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners.[3]

Charter review

Main article: BBC review

The BBC's Royal Charter is currently under review. Although the Charter is widely expected to be renewed in 2006, some proposals have suggested dramatic changes.

The BBC itself suggested radical changes in its "Building Public Value" proposals published in June 2004.[7]

Green Paper

On 2 March 2005 the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell published a green paper setting out her proposals for the future of the BBC.[8] The main points of this were:

  • Maintenance of the licence fee system until at least 2016
  • Abolition of the BBC Governors, to be replaced by a "BBC Trust"
  • Increasing outsourcing of production (a process already started by Mark Thompson)
  • Reduced emphasis on "ratings for ratings' sake" and copycat programmes (such as reality television).
White Paper

In March 2006 the Culture Secretary published a white paper on the future of the BBC.[9] This charged the Corporation with:

  • sustaining citizenship and civil society
  • promoting education and learning
  • stimulating creativity and cultural excellence – including film
  • reflecting the UK’s Nations, regions and communities
  • bringing the world to the UK and the UK to the world
  • Building Digital Britain.

The BBC must display at least one of the following characteristics in all content:

  • high quality
  • challenging
  • original
  • innovative
  • engaging.

The White Paper also confirms the intention stated in the Green Paper to maintain the licence fee system and set up a BBC Trust.

Corporate structure

  • Governance Unit
  • Programming Groups
  • Broadcasting Groups
    • World Service
    • TV
    • New Media & Technology
    • Radio & Music
    • Nations & Regions
  • Professional Services
    • Strategy (formerly Strategy and Distribution and merged with Policy and Legal)
    • Marketing, Comms and Audiences
    • Finance Property & Business Affairs
    • BBC People (to 2004, Human Resources & Internal Communications)
    • BBC Training & Development
  • Commercial Groups

Management

The BBC is a nominally autonomous corporation, independent from direct government intervention. It is run by an appointed Board of Governors. General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General appointed by the governors.

The governors as of 19 January 2005 were:

The current Director-General is Mark Thompson. On July 19 2006 he announced a new Executive Board of ten directors.

Finance

The BBC has the largest budget of any UK broadcaster with an operating expenditure of £4 billion in 2005[10] compared to £3.2 billion for British Sky Broadcasting,[11] £1.7 billion for ITV[12] and £79 million (in 2006) for GCap Media (the largest commercial radio broadcaster).[13]

Revenue

See also: Television licence and Television licensing in the United Kingdom

The principal means of funding the BBC is through the television licence, costing around £11 a month if paid by direct debit (as of July 2006). Such a licence is required to operate a broadcast television receiver within the UK. The cost of a television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law, however the revenue is collected privately and does not pass through the state before reaching the BBC. For this reason it is inaccurate to refer to the BBC as a "state" broadcaster.

Income from commercial enterprises and from overseas sales of its catalogue of programmes has substantially increased over recent years.[14] with BBC Worldwide contributing some £145million in cash to the BBC's core public service business.

According to the BBC's 2005 Annual Report,[15] its income can be broken down as follows:

  • £2,940.3m licence fees collected from consumers.
  • £624.3m from BBC Commercial Businesses.
  • £247.2m from the World Service, of which £225.1m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £16.7m from subscriptions, and £5.4m from other sources.
  • £23.5m from other income, such as providing content to overseas broadcasters and concert ticket sales.

Expenditure

The BBC gives two forms of expenditure statement for the financial year 2005-2006.

The amount of each licence fee spent monthly[16] breaks down as follows:

Department Monthly cost (GBP)
BBC ONE £3.52
BBC TWO £1.52
Transmission and collection costs £1.08
Nations and English Regions television £1.04
BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and Five Live £1.02
Digital television channels £1.00
Local and Nations' radio 68p
bbc.co.uk 36p
BBC jam 14p
Digital radio stations 10p
Interactive TV (BBCi) 8p
Total £10.54

The total broadcasting spend for 2005-2006[17] is given as:

Department Total cost (£million)
Television 1443
Radio 218
bbc.co.uk 72
BBC jam 36
Interactive TV (BBCi) 18
Local radio and regional television 370
Programme related spend 338
Overheads and Digital UK 315
Restructuring 107
Transmission and collection costs 320
Total 3237

Headquarters and regional offices

Main article: Broadcasting House

Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London is the official headquarters of the BBC. It is home to the national radio networks BBC Radio 2, 3, 4, 6 Music, and BBC 7. On the front of the building are statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) sculpted by Eric Gill.

Renovation of Broadcasting House began in 2002 and is scheduled for completion in 2010. As part of a major reorganisation of BBC property, Broadcasting House is to become home to BBC News (both television and radio), national radio, and the BBC World Service. The major part of this plan involves the demolition of the two post-war extensions to the building and construction of a new building[18] beside the existing structure. During the rebuilding process many of the BBC Radio networks have been relocated to other buildings in the vicinity of Portland Place.

In 2007/2008 BBC News is expected to relocate from the News Centre at BBC Television Centre to the refurbished Broadcasting House in what is being described as "one of the world's largest live broadcast centres".[19]

By far the largest concentration of BBC staff in the UK exists in White City. Well known buildings in this area include the BBC Television Centre, White City, Media Centre, Broadcast Centre and Centre House.

As well as the various BBC buildings in London, there are major BBC production centres located in Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton and Newcastle upon Tyne. Some of these local centres (for example Belfast) are also known as "Broadcasting House" (see Broadcasting House (disambiguation)). There are also many smaller local and regional studios scattered throughout the UK.

Services

Weekly reach of all the BBC's services in the UK[20]
Weekly reach of the BBC's five national analogue radio stations[20]
Weekly reach of the BBC's domestic television services[20]
BBC Television Centre in West London.

News

Main article: BBC News

BBC News claims to be the largest broadcast news gathering operation in the world[21], providing services to BBC domestic radio as well as television networks such as BBC News 24, BBC Parliament and BBC World, as well as BBCi, Ceefax and BBC News Online. New BBC News services that are also proving popular are mobile services to mobile phones and PDAs. Desktop news alerts, e-mail alerts, and digital TV alerts are also available.

Radio

Further information: [[:BBC Radio, BBC Local Radio]]

The BBC has five major national stations, Radio 1 ("the best in new music"), Radio 2 (the UK's most listened to radio station, with 12.9 million weekly listeners[22]), Radio 3 (specialist-interest music such as classical, world, arts, drama and jazz), Radio 4 (current affairs, drama and comedy), and Radio 5 Live (24 hour news, sports and talk).

There is also a network of local stations (for example BBC Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio Jersey and BBC London) with a mixture of talk, news and music in England and the Channel Islands as well as national stations of BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru (in Welsh), BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio nan Gaidheal (in Scots Gaelic), BBC Radio Ulster, and BBC Radio Foyle.

The BBC has been at the forefront of digital radio broadcasting in the UK with Five Live Sports Extra (a companion to Five Live for additional events coverage), 1Xtra (for black, urban and gospel music), 6 Music (less mainstream genres of music), BBC 7 (Comedy, Drama & Kids shows) amd BBC Asian Network (Asian talk, music and news in many Asian languages).

For a world-wide audience, the BBC produces the Foreign Office funded BBC World Service, which is broadcast worldwide on shortwave radio, and on DAB Digital Radio in the UK. The World Service can be received in 139 capital cities worldwide and is a major source of news and information programming for over 140 million listeners worldwide. The Service currently broadcasts in 43 languages and dialects (including English), though not all languages are broadcast in all areas.[23]

In 2005, the BBC announced that it would substantially reduce its radio broadcasting in Eastern European languages and divert resources instead to a new Arabic language satellite TV broadcasting station (including radio and online content) in the Middle East to be launched in 2007.[24]

Since 1943, the BBC has also provided radio programming to the British Forces Broadcasting Service, which broadcasts in countries where British troops are stationed.

All of the national BBC radio stations, as well as the BBC World Service, are available over the Internet in the RealAudio streaming format. In April 2005 the BBC began trials offering a limited number of radio programmes as podcasts.[25]

Television

Main article: BBC Television

BBC One and BBC Two are the BBC's flagship television channels. The BBC is also promoting the new channels BBC Three and BBC Four, which are only available via digital television equipment (now in widespread use in the UK, with analogue transmission expected to be phased out from 2008). The BBC also runs BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, and two children's channels, CBBC and CBeebies, also on digital.

BBC One is a regionalised TV service which provides opt-outs throughout the day for local news and other local programming. In the Republic of Ireland the Northern Ireland regionalised BBC One & BBC Two are available via analogue transmissions deflecting signals from the North and also carried out on Sky Digital, NTL Ireland and Chorus

From June 9, 2006 the BBC will begin a 6-12 month trial of High-definition television broadcasts under the name BBC HD. The corporation has been producing programmes in the format for many years, and states that it hopes to produce 100% of new programmes in HDTV by 2010. [26]

Since 1975, the BBC has also provided its TV programmes to the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), allowing members of HM Forces serving all over the world to watch and listen to their favourite programmes from home on two dedicated TV channels.

Internet

Main article: bbc.co.uk

The bbc.co.uk [1] website, formerly BBCi and before that BBC Online, includes a comprehensive, advertisement free news website and archive. The BBC claims the site to be "Europe's most popular content-based site"[27] and boasts that 13.2 million people in the UK visit the site's more than 2 million pages.[28] According to Alexa's TrafficRank system, in July 2006 bbc.co.uk was the 13th most popular English Language website in the world[29], and the 23rd most popular overall.[30]

The website allows the BBC to produce sections which complement the various programmes on television and radio, and it is common for viewers and listeners to be told website addresses for the bbc.co.uk sections relating to that programme. The site also allows users to listen to most Radio output live and for seven days after broadcast using its RealPlayer-based "Radio Player"; some TV content is also distributed in RealVideo format. A new system known as iMP is under development, which uses peer-to-peer and DRM technology to deliver both radio and TV content for offline use for up to 7 days.

In recent years some major on-line companies and politicians have complained that the bbc.co.uk website receives too much funding from the television licence, meaning that other websites are unable to compete with the vast amount of advertising-free on-line content available on bbc.co.uk.[31] Some have proposed that the amount of licence fee money spent on bbc.co.uk should be reduced — either being replaced with funding from advertisements or subscriptions, or a reduction in the amount of content available on the site.[32] In response to this the BBC carried out an investigation, and has now set in motion a plan to change the way it provides its online services. bbc.co.uk will now attempt to fill in gaps in the market, but will guide users to other websites for currently existing market provision. (For example, instead of providing local events information and timetables, users will be guided to outside websites already providing that information.) Part of this plan included the BBC closing some of its websites, and rediverting money to redevelop other parts.[33]

Interactive television

Main article: BBCi

BBCi is the brand name for the BBC's interactive digital television services, which are available through Freeview (digital terrestrial), as well as Sky Digital (satellite), NTL and Telewest (cable). Unlike Ceefax, BBCi is able to display full-colour graphics, photographs, and video, as well as programmes. Recent examples include the interactive sports coverage for football and rugby football matches, BBC Soundbites which starred young actress Jennifer Lynn and an interactive national IQ test, Test the Nation. All of the BBC's digital television stations, (and radio stations on Freeview), allow access to the BBCi service.

BBCi provides viewers with over 100 interactive TV programmes every year, as well as the 24/7 service.[34] It also offers video news and weather.

Commercial services

BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC responsible for the commercial exploitation of BBC programmes and other properties, including a number of television stations throughout the world. The cable and satellite stations BBC Prime (in Europe, Africa the Middle East, and Asia), BBC America, BBC Canada (alongside BBC Kids, broadcast popular BBC programmes to people outside the UK, as does UK.TV (co-run with Foxtel and Fremantle Media) in Australasia. A similar service, BBC Japan, ceased broadcasts in April 2006 after its Japanese distributor folded.[35]. BBC Worldwide also runs a 24-hour news channel, BBC World and co-runs, with Flextech, the UKTV network of stations in the UK, producers of amongst others UKTV Gold. In addition, BBC television news appears nightly on many Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States, as do reruns of BBC programmes such as EastEnders, and in New Zealand on TV One.

Many BBC programmes (especially documentaries) are sold via BBC Worldwide to foreign television stations, and comedy, documentaries and historical drama productions are popular on the international DVD market.[36]

BBC Worldwide also maintains the publishing arm of the BBC and it is the third-largest publisher of consumer magazines in the United Kingdom.[37] BBC Magazines, formerly known as BBC Publications, publishes the Radio Times and a number of magazines that support BBC programming such as BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food, BBC Sky at Night, BBC History, BBC Wildlife and BBC Music. In addition, in 2004 BBC Worldwide acquired the independent magazine publisher Origin Publishing.[38]

Miscellaneous

The BBC and the the Foreign and Commonwealth Office jointly run BBC Monitoring, which monitors radio, television, the press and the internet worldwide.

Unions

Union membership is a private matter between staff and their chosen union: staff are not automatically covered by a union, but since the BBC is a large employer (in the media sector), membership numbers are considerable.[citation needed]

Staff at the BBC are normally represented by BECTU, along with journalistic staff by the NUJ and electrical staff by Amicus. Union membership is optional, and paid for by staff members and not by the BBC.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pharr, Susan (1996). Media and Politics in Japan. University of Hawaii Press. pp. p.5. ISBN 824817613. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "BBC website: About the BBC - Purpose and values". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  3. ^ a b "BBC Royal Charter and Agreement". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  4. ^ "BBC Press Release 10 October 2004". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  5. ^ "Teletronic: The Edit That Rewrote History". Retrieved 2006-07-20.
  6. ^ "BBC response to HM Government's Green Paper". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  7. ^ "Chairman's prologue to Building public value BBC statement". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  8. ^ "Department of Culture, Media and Sport: A strong BBC, independent of government Green Paper". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  9. ^ "Department of Culture, Media and Sport: A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age" White Paper". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  10. ^ "BBC Annual Accounts 2004-05, p96" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  11. ^ "BSkyB Annual Report and Accounts 2005, p40" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  12. ^ "ITV Plc Annual Report 2005, p39" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  13. ^ "GCap Media Annual Report 2005/6, p63" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  14. ^ "BBC Annual Accounts 2004-05, p94" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  15. ^ "BBC Annual Report 2005, section 6". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  16. ^ "BBC Annual Report 2005-2006, p61" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  17. ^ "BBC Annual Report 2005-2006, p16" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  18. ^ "New Broadcasting House". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  19. ^ "New Broadcasting House - The future". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  20. ^ a b c "BBC Press Release". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  21. ^ "BBC Jobs". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  22. ^ "RAJAR Quarterly Summary of Radio Listening - Quarter 1 2006 - National Stations" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  23. ^ "BBC World Service news review" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  24. ^ "The Middle East Times, BBC Arabic TV appoints former Al Jazeera employee as news editor 15 March 2006". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  25. ^ "BBC press release: BBC to podcast up to 20 more programmes including Today and Radio 1 speech highlights". Retrieved 2006-07-13.
  26. ^ "BBC Press Release 08 November 2005". Retrieved 2006-07-07.
  27. ^ "bbc.co.uk Comissioning". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  28. ^ "bbc.co.uk Key Facts". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  29. ^ "Alexa.com Top English-language Sites". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  30. ^ "Alexa.com Global Top 500 Sites". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  31. ^ "Department of Culture, Media and Sport Independent Review of BBC Online, pp41-58" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  32. ^ "British Internet Publishers Alliance". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  33. ^ "BBC News Online report: Public value key to BBC websites". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  34. ^ "BBC Press Office: BBCi Key Facts". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  35. ^ "BBC Japan website". Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  36. ^ "BBC Worldwide Annual Review 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  37. ^ "BBC Worldwide Annual Review 2001". Retrieved 2006-07-14.
  38. ^ "BBC Worldwide Press Office". Retrieved 2006-07-06.

Bibliography

  • Briggs, Asa. - The BBC - The First Fifty Years - Condensed version of the five-volume history by the same author. - Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-19-212971-6
  • Coulton, Barbara. - Louis MacNeice in the BBC - Writer and producer from 1941 to 1961 in the Features Department of BBC radio. - Faber and Faber, 1980. ISBN 0-571-11537-3
  • Gilder PhD., Eric. - Mass Media Moments in the United Kingdom, the USSR and the USA. - Historical background relating to the British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., its founding companies; their transatlantic connections; General Post Office licensing system; commercial competitors from Europe prior to World War II and offshore during the 1960s. - "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu Press, Romania. 2003. ISBN 973-651-596-6
  • Milne, Alasdair. - The memoirs of a British broadcaster - History of the Zircon spy satellite affair, written by a former Director General of the BBC. A series of BBC radio programmes called "The Secret Society" led to a raid by police in both England and Scotland to seize documents as part of a government censorship campaign. - Coronet, 1989. - ISBN 0-34-049750-5
  • Moran, Lord. - Churchill at War 1940 to 1945 - The Memoirs of Churchill's Doctor, with an introduction by Lord Moran's son, John, the present Lord Moran. - This diary paints an intimate portrait of Churchill by Sir Charles Watson, his personal physician (Lord Moran), who spent the war years with the Prime Minister. In his diary, Moran recorded insights into Churchill's character, and moments when he let his guard down, including his views about the BBC being riddled with communists. - Carroll & Graf, 2002. Reissue ISBN 0-78-671041-1
  • Parker, Derek. - David & Charles - Radio: The Great Years - History of BBC radio programmes from the beginning until the date of publication. 1977. ISBN 0-7153-7430-3
  • Spangenberg, Jochen. - The BBC in Transition. Reasons, Results and Consequences - Encompassing account of the BBC and influencing external factors until 1996. - Deutscher Universitaetsverlag. 1997. ISBN 3-8244-4227-2
  • Wilson, H.H. - Pressure Group - History of the political fight to introduce commercial television into the United Kingdom. - Rutgers University Press, 1961.
  • West, W.J. - Truth Betrayed a critical assessment of the BBC, London, 1987, ISBN 0-7156-2182-3

External links

BBC web pages

Articles from news websites

Personal sites

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