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For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation).
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Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Usage restricted. Trademarks on this page belong to their owner. See Image use policy.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a national publicly-funded broadcaster based in the United Kingdom, which also has some international services. It is frequently heralded as the most widely respected broadcaster in the world. Sometimes affectionately known to local consumers as the "Beeb" or "Auntie", the BBC was for many years the only television and radio provider in the United Kingdom. Its motto is Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation.

Before the introduction of Independent Television in 1955 and subsequently Independent Radio in 1973, it held a monopoly on broadcasting. More recent de-regulation of the British television broadcasting market produced analogue cable television and satellite broadcasting and later digital satellite, digital cable and digital terrestrial television (DTT) . Today the BBC broadcasts in almost every medium including these and the Internet.

History

Prior to the establishment of the BBC a number of private companies had been making experimental radio broadcasts in the UK. The Post Office (under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904) was responsible for the issuing of broadcasting licences, but in 1919 it stopped issuing new licences due to the large number of complaints of interference to military communications from the Armed Forces. As the number of radio receiving sets increased during the early 1920s the Post Office came under extreme pressure to allow national radio broadcasting. A committee of radio manufacturers spent several months discussing various proposals and the result was the establishment of the BBC.

The BBC was founded as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922 by a consortium including Marconi, GEC, British Thomson Houston, Metropolitan Vickers, Western Electric and the Radio Communication Company. The initial remit of the company was to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service. On November 14, 1922, the first BBC station 2LO began broadcasting on mediumwave, from the roof of Selfridges department store in Oxford Street, London. The following day 5IT in Birmingham, and 2ZY in Manchester went on the air.

It took on its current form in 1927 when it was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation. The form is that of an autonomous corporation run by a board of governors appointed by the incumbent government for a term of four years (formerly five years). General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General appointed by the governors.

Timeline of major events

Main article: Timeline of the BBC

Recent events

Unencrypted satellite transmissions

In March 2003 the BBC announced that from the end of May 2003 (subsequently deferred to July 14) it intended to transmit all eight of its domestic television channels (including the 15 regional variations of BBC One) unencrypted from the Astra 2D satellite. This move was estimated to save the BBC £85 million over the next 5 years.

While the "footprint" of the Astra 2D satellite was smaller than that of Astra 2A, from which it was previously broadcast encrypted, it meant that viewers with appropriate equipment were able to receive BBC channels "free-to-air" over much of Western Europe. Consequently, some rights issues have needed to be resolved with programme providers such as Hollywood studios and sporting organisations, who have expressed concern about the unencrypted signal leaking out.

"Sexing up" and the Hutton Inquiry

In July 2003, BBC Radio 4's Today programme broadcast a news item quoting a government official suggesting that the Government had "sexed up" the British Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, against the wishes of the Intelligence services. The journalist involved later claimed in a newspaper article that Alistair Campbell, who was then the Prime Minister's Director of Communications and Strategy, was responsible. The British Government strongly denied the claims, which prompted an investigation by Parliament. The situation severely damaged the BBC's relationship with the government. A Ministry of Defence scientist, Dr David Kelly, was then named as the alleged source of the news item in another leaked news briefing. The subsequent suicide of Dr Kelly resulted in an escalation of the conflict between the government and the BBC, during which both sides received severe criticism for their roles in the matter.

The report of the Hutton Inquiry into Dr Kelly's death was extremely critical of the BBC journalist, Andrew Gilligan, and the management processes of the Corporation. In the aftermath both the Chairman of the BBC Gavyn Davies and the Director-General Greg Dyke resigned, followed by Gilligan himself.

Some reports say that this may have actually improved some people's opinion of the BBC, especially abroad, as the BBC had previously been criticised for being too friendly with the British Government.

Charter renewal

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

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 current governors, as of June 22 2004, are:

The current Director-General is Mark Thompson. On his first day in the role he announced a shake-up of senior management, including the replacement of the Executive Committee, formed by directors of divisions within the BBC, with a streamlined nine-member Executive Board consisting of:

Political controversy and neutrality

The autonomous nature of the board of governors gives it a high degree of independence from government control. On a few occasions, some have seen a tension between the BBC's commitment to neutrality and a habit of 'breaking' controversial stories which could be viewed as critical of government policy.

The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. At some times, both of these accusations have been made at once by politicians from each side. In spite of these criticisms, the BBC is widely regarded by the British public as a trusted and politically neutral news source. The BBC is considered an important guarantor of British democracy; it has a reputation for priding itself on its neutrality. The reporting of news by other sources is frequently compared against the BBC, with the result that other news corporations cannot promote extreme views.

The publication in January 2004 of the Hutton Report dented this reputation in the eyes of some observers. This report criticised the standards of journalism at the BBC, and led to the resignations of Director-General Greg Dyke, Chairman of Governors Gavyn Davies, and the reporter at the centre of the storm, Andrew Gilligan.

The reputation of the BBC remained high with the British public, even after the report criticized some of its processes over coverage of statements made to Gilligan by scientist and former UN arms inspector David Kelly concerning claims made in Prime Minister Tony Blair's government dossier on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Despite criticising failures of the BBC's editorial policy, management, the Director-General and the Governors, the report was branded a Whitewash by some for failing to address the issue of the validity of claims made by the government within the dossier. This issue was not deemed to be within the remit of Lord Hutton's investigation. Nevertheless, some argued that Lord Hutton failed to take account of the imperfections inherent in journalism, while giving the Government the benefit of the doubt over its own conduct.

A second inquiry by Lord Butler did review the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction and the production of the dossier. Amongst other things, the Butler Report concluded that "the fact that the reference [to the 45 minute claim] in the classified assessment was repeated in the dossier later led to suspicions that it had been included because of its eye-catching character". Andrew Gilligan claims that this has vindicated his original story that the dossier had been "sexed up".

Lord Hutton himself is said to be surprised at what he apparently views as an over-reaction to and misinterpretation of his criticisms of the BBC.

Funding

The Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1904 instituted government regulation of radio broadcasting and reception under the authority of the Postmaster General. A licence scheme was introduced whereby anyone wishing to purchase or construct radio equipment was required to obtain a licence from the Post Office. With the founding of the BBC, the radio licence fees became its principal means of funding. The household radio licence was eventually abolished in 1971 but a licence is still required for television reception.

Today each household (with exemptions for the elderly and others, paid for by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) or business in the UK using a television or other equipment to receive broadcasts has to buy an annual television licence. The licence fees are set by the government but collected by independent contractors, Capita and AMV. The fees are to ensure that the BBC is sufficiently funded to provide for the British public high quality and diverse media content designed to "educate, inform and entertain" as per the remit of its charter. Because of this unique funding method, BBC radio and television output has been free of the constraints of commercial advertisers; programme makers are, in theory, answerable only to the licence payer, but pressure from political parties via appointments to the board of governors and by threats over changes to the amount of the licence fee as well as competition with commercial television channels for audience share are still significant factors in the corporation's output. The BBC has also for many years received funding from British Government departments for certain sections of its output. For instance the World Service, which, as its name suggests, is broadcast around the world, is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In recent years the BBC has also received large amounts of revenue from its commercial wing, particularly by exploiting its massive back catalogue of programmes.

The 2003 Annual report gave revenue sources in millions of:

  • £2,659m licence fees collected from consumers.
  • £147m from BBC Commercial Holdings Ltd.
  • £223.7m from the World Service, of which £201m is from grants (primarily funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), £16.1m from subscriptions and £6.6m from other sources.
  • Assorted additional sources such as property and interest.

Divisions

File:BBC Broadcasting House 400.jpg
Broadcasting House, the BBC's Radio headquarters and location of the Radios 2, 3, 4, 6 Music and BBC 7 studios

Radio

The BBC was originally set up to provide a radio service for the British public. Radio made up the bulk of its output prior to the introduction and widespread adoption of the BBC's television service; this can be seen today in the title of the BBC's listings magazine, Radio Times. Radio still makes up a large part of the corporation's output.

The first two radio services to broadcast were the Home Service (originally the National Programme) and the World Service (originally the General Overseas Service). These were followed by the Light Programme (using the transmitters vacated by the wartime Forces Programme), and the Third Programme. A contemporary music station, BBC Radio 1, was launched in 1967 in response to pirate radio stations (most of which closed on or before the introduction of new legislation on 15 August, 1967), and the present numbered names were adopted on the same day, 30 September, 1967. Radio 1 was accompanied by Radio 2 (broadcasting easy listening, folk, jazz and light entertainment – formerly the Light Programme), Radio 3 (the new name for the Third Programme) and Radio 4 (formerly the Home Service). BBC Radio 5 was launched on 27 August 1990 as a home for sport and children's programming, and was later renamed BBC Radio Five Live when it became a dedicated news and sport network.

The BBC today runs ten national domestic radio stations, five of which are only available in a digital format: via DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting – i.e. Digital Radio), the Internet or the different forms of Digital Television in the UK. The five new stations are: 6Music (broadcasting rock, funk, punk and reggae), BBC 7 (comedy, drama, books, science fiction, fantasy and children's programmes), The Asian Network, 1Xtra and Five Live Sports Extra.

Each of the national BBC radio stations caters for a different audience. For example, BBC Radio 1 broadcasts contemporary popular music aimed at a young target audience, whereas BBC Radio Five Live broadcasts news and sport (including live coverage of sports fixtures).

The BBC also runs regional radio stations throughout the UK, for example BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Devon. These stations focus on regional issues to a greater extent than their national counterparts, organising live phone-in debates about these issues, as well as lighter talk shows with music from different decades of the 20th Century. Compared to many advertising-funded Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations, which often broadcast contemporary popular music, BBC Local Radio stations offer a more "serious" alternative.

The BBC World Service is also available on the mainstream digital broadcasting platforms in the UK, as well as the Internet and shortwave radio, both of which can be received in many places across the globe. It is a major source of news and information programming, and is funded by the British Foreign Office.

All of the national BBC radio stations, as well as the BBC World Service, are available over the Internet in the RealAudio streaming format. The BBC has also recently experimented with the free, open source Ogg Vorbis streaming audio format.

A most famous BBC radio programme is the soap The Archers. The BBC is also famous for its comedy output – in particular The Goon Show. BBC Radio also broadcasts an enormous amount of original radio drama, and has given many dramatists their writing start.

Television

What is now known as BBC One was the world's first regular television service. It began broadcasting from Alexandra Palace in London on November 2, 1936, to just a few hundred viewers in the immediate area. It was reaching an estimated 25,000-40,000 homes before the outbreak of the Second World War caused the service to be suspended. The VHF broadcasts would have provided an ideal radio beacon for German bombers homing in on London, and the engineers and technicians of the service would be needed for the war effort, in particular the RADAR programme. In 1946 TV transmissions resumed from Alexandra Palace. The BBC Television Service was renamed BBC1 (now BBC One) in 1964, after the launch of BBC2 (now BBC Two). BBC One shows popular programming, including drama, comedies, documentaries, game shows and soap operas, covering a wide range of genres and regularly competes with ITV to become the channel with the highest ratings for that week. BBC One is the home to the BBC's main news bulletins, currently being shown at 1pm, 6pm and 10pm.

BBC Two was the third television station (ITV was the second) for the UK; its remit is to provide more niche programming. The channel was due to launch on 20 April, 1964, but was put off the air by a massive power failure that affected much of London, caused by a fire at Battersea Power Station. A videotape made on the opening night was rediscovered in 2003 by a BBC technician. In the end the launch went ahead the following night, hosted by an announcer holding a candle. BBC2 (as it was originally spelled) was the first British channel to use UHF and 625-line pictures, giving higher definition than the existing VHF 405-line system. In December of 1967 it became the first regular television channel in Europe to broadcast in colour, using the German PAL system that is still in use today although being gradually superseded by digital systems. (BBC One and ITV began 625-line colour broadcasts simultaneously on November 15, 1969). Unlike its contemporaries, BBC Two does not have the usual soap opera or standard news programming, but rather a breadth of programming that is eclectic, fun and diverse (although if a programme has high audience viewing figures, it is often repositioned onto BBC One). Well known BBC Two programmes include Newsnight.

Regional variations also occur within the BBC One and BBC Two schedules. England's BBC One output is split up into 11 regions (such as South West and East), which exist mainly to produce local news programming, but also occasionally opt out of the network to show programmes of local importance (such as major local events). The other parts of the United Kingdom (Wales and Scotland, and the province of Northern Ireland) have been granted more autonomy from the English network; for example, programmes are mostly introduced by local announcers, rather than by those in London. BBC One and BBC Two schedules in these areas can vary immensely from BBC One and BBC Two in England.

Programmes, such as the politically fuelled Give My Head Peace (produced by BBC Northern Ireland) and the soap opera River City (produced by BBC Scotland), have been created specifically to cater for people in these areas, who may have found programmes created for English audiences irrelevant. BBC Wales also produces a large amount of Welsh language programming for S4C, particularly news, sport and other programmes, especially the soap opera Pobol y Cwm ('People of the Valley').

However, the BBC produces many programmes shown across the UK, such as The Good Life, One Foot in the Grave, Harry Enfield and Chums and EastEnders. The regions also produce a number of programmes that are shown across the UK, such as BBC Scotland's comedy series Chewin' the Fat, and BBC Northern Ireland's talk show Patrick Kielty: Almost Live. The BBC is also renowned for its production of costume dramas, such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and contemporary social dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff and Our Friends in the North. Programmes have also been imported from other countries: notable examples include The Simpsons from the United States, and Neighbours from Australia.

The BBC also introduced Ceefax, the first teletext service, starting in 1974. This service allows BBC viewers to view information (such as the latest news) on their television. CEEFAX has not made a full transition to digital television, instead being replaced by the new interactive BBCi service.

The commercial arm of the BBC, BBC Worldwide, broadcasts television stations throughout the world. The cable and satellite stations BBC Prime (in Europe, Africa and the Middle East), BBC America and BBC Canada broadcast popular BBC programmes such as Ground Force and EastEnders to people outside the UK, as does UK.TV in Australasia. BBC Worldwide also runs a 24-hour news channel, BBC World. In addition, BBC television news appears nightly on many Public Broadcasting System stations in the United States, as do reruns of BBC programmes from Lionheart TV.

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

The BBC Natural History Unit (based in Bristol) is famed throughout the world for producing high quality programmes such as Life On Earth, The Private Life of Plants and The Blue Planet, very often presented by Sir David Attenborough (who was also once controller of BBC2).

On 5 July 2004, the BBC celebrated the 50th Anniversary of its television news bulletins. This event was marked by the release of a DVD, which shows highlights of the BBC's television coverage of significant events over the last half-century, as well as changes in the format of the BBC television news; from the newsreel format of the first BBC Television News bulletins, to the 24-hour, worldwide news coverage available in 2004. A special edition of Radio Times has also been produced, as well as a special section of the BBC News website.

bbc.co.uk

The bbc.co.uk website, formerly BBCi (and before that BBC Online), includes a comprehensive news website and archive. 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 see and hear many of the BBC's television and radio services using streaming media. According to Alexa's TrafficRank system, in June 2004 bbc.co.uk was the 13th most popular English Language website in the world. (References: Global Top 500 Sites - Top English Language Sites)

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. 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.

BBCi

BBCi is the brand name for the BBC's interactive digital television services. Unlike Ceefax, BBCi is able to display full colour graphics, photographs and video, as well as allow the viewer to interact with the programme. Recent examples include the interactive sports coverage for football and rugby football matches and an interactive national IQ test. All of the BBC's digital television stations, with the exception of BBC Parliament on digital satellite, allow access to the BBCi service. However, the amount of content available on the digital television BBCi service does not currently match the amount available on Ceefax, which is still available on analogue terrestrial television.

List of stations

Television

  • United Kingdom, digital only (Digital Terrestrial (DTT), Digital Cable and Digital Satellite (Astra 2D))
    • BBC Three, formerly known as BBC Choice (DTT channel 7)
    • BBC Four, formerly known as BBC Knowledge (DTT channel 10)
    • BBC Parliament (terrestrial digital was originally audio only, but now broadcasts a quarter-sized screen due to capacity limitations) (DTT channel 45)
    • BBC News 24 (DTT channel 40)
    • CBBC Channel (Children's digital channel aimed towards children over 8yrs) (DTT channel 30)
    • CBeebies (Children's digital channel aimed towards children under 8yrs) (DTT channel 31)

Radio

See List of BBC radio stations for a full list.

  • United Kingdom
    • BBC Radio 1 (Contemporary popular music) (97-99 FM, DTT channel 70) - Website
    • BBC Radio 2 (music for a more mature audience; and comedy), originally known as the Light Programme. This was a peacetime offshoot of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme set up to entertain the Allied troops (and civilians) in World War II. (88-91 FM, DTT channel 72) - Website
    • BBC Radio 3 (Jazz, classical and non-western music and study in musical topics), originally the Third Programme. (90-93 FM, DTT channel 73) - Website
    • BBC Radio 4 (Non-musical entertainment such as drama, comedy, news programmes and factual programmes), previously the Home Service, formed in 1939 from the fusion of the prewar National and Regional Programmes. Radio 4 has both FM and longwave frequencies and sometimes broadcasts different programmes on the two bands. (92-95 FM, 198 LW, DTT channel 74) - Website
    • BBC Radio Five Live (News and sports analysis and commentary), originally BBC Radio 5. (909 and 693 MW, DTT channel 75) - Website
  • United Kingdom, local (England and Channel Islands) - See the BBC Local Radio article.

Miscellaneous

See also

External links

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