BBC

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For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation).
British Broadcasting Corporation

Industry Broadcasting
Predecessor British Broadcasting Company
Founded 18 October 1922
Founder(s) Sir John Reith
City of Westminster, London, United
Headquarters
Kingdom
Area served Worldwide
Sir Michael Lyons
(Chairman, BBC Trust)
Key people
Mark Thompson
(Director-General)
Services Television, Radio & Online
Website www.bbc.co.uk

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the principal public service

broadcaster in the United Kingdom, headquartered in the Broadcasting House in the
City of Westminster, London.[1] It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about
23,000 staff.[2][3][4] Its main responsibility is to provide public service broadcasting in
the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. The BBC is an autonomous
public service broadcaster[4] that operates under a Royal Charter.[5] Within the United
Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee,[6] which is
charged to all United Kingdom households, companies and organisations using any
type of equipment to record and/or receive live television broadcasts;[7] the level of the
fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament.[8]

Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting
and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC
Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online.
Though sharing some of the facilities of the domestic services, particularly for news
and current affairs output, the World Service has a separate Managing Director, and
its operating costs have historically been funded mainly by direct grants from the UK
government. These grants were determined independently of the domestic licence fee.
A recent spending review has announced plans for the funding for the world service to
be drawn from the domestic licence fee.
The Corporation's 'guaranteed' income from the licence fee and the World Service
grants are supplemented by profits from commercial operations through a wholly
owned subsidiary, BBC Worldwide Ltd. The company's activities include
programme- and format-sales, magazines including Radio Times and book
publishing. The BBC also earns additional income from selling certain programme-
making services through BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd., formerly BBC
Resources Ltd, another wholly owned trading subsidiary of the corporation.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Governance
o 2.1 BBC Trust
o 2.2 Executive Board
o 2.3 Corporate structure
• 3 Finance
o 3.1 Revenue
o 3.2 Expenditure
• 4 Headquarters and regional offices
• 5 Services
o 5.1 Television
o 5.2 Radio
o 5.3 News
o 5.4 Attitudes toward the BBC in popular culture
• 6 Criticism and controversies
• 7 Other media venues
o 7.1 Internet
o 7.2 Interactive television
o 7.3 Commercial services
o 7.4 Music
o 7.5 Miscellaneous
• 8 Unions
• 9 Cultural significance
• 10 See also
• 11 References
• 12 Bibliography
• 13 Further reading

• 14 External links

[edit] History
Further information: Timeline of the BBC
Main article: British Broadcasting Company
The BBC coat of arms

The privately owned BBC was the world's first national broadcasting organisation[9]
and was founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd. The
original company was founded in 1922[10] by a group of six telecommunications
companies—Marconi, Radio Communication Company, Metropolitan-Vickers,
General Electric, Western Electric, and British Thomson-Houston[11]—to broadcast
experimental radio services. The first transmission was on 14 November of that year,
from station 2LO, located at Marconi House, London.[12]

The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was created by the British General Post
Office (GPO) and John Reith applied for a job with the existing company and later
became its employee general manager. The company was wound-up and on 1 January
1927[13] a new non-commercial entity called the British Broadcasting Corporation
established under a Royal Charter became successor in interest.

To represent its purpose and values, the Corporation adopted the coat of arms,
incorporating the motto "Nation shall speak peace unto Nation". The motto is
generally attributed to Montague John Rendall, former headmaster of Winchester
College, and member of the first BBC Board of Governors.[14] The motto is said to be
a "felicitous adaptation" of Micah 4: 3 "nation shall not lift up a sword against
nation".[15]

Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1932 using an electromechanical

30 line system developed by John Logie Baird. Limited regular broadcasts using this
system began in 1934, and an expanded service (now named the BBC Television
Service) started from Alexandra Palace in 1936, alternating between an improved
Baird mechanical 240 line system and the all electronic 405 line Marconi-EMI
system. The superiority of the electronic system saw the mechanical system dropped
early the following year.[16] Television broadcasting was suspended from 1 September
1939 to 7 June 1946 during the Second World War. A widely reported urban myth is
that, upon resumption of service, announcer Leslie Mitchell started by saying, "As I
was saying before we were so rudely interrupted ..." In fact, the first person to appear
when transmission resumed was Jasmine Bligh and the words said were "Good
afternoon, everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh ...?"[17]

The European Broadcasting Union was formed on 12 February 1950, in Torquay with
the BBC among the 23 founding broadcasting organisations.
Competition to the BBC was introduced in 1955 with the commercial and
independently operated television network ITV. However, the BBC monopoly on
radio services would persist into the 1970s. As a result of the Pilkington Committee
report of 1962, in which the BBC was praised for the quality and range of its output,
and ITV was very heavily criticised for not providing enough quality programming,[18]
the decision was taken to award the BBC a second television channel, BBC2, in 1964,
renaming the existing service BBC1. BBC2 used the higher resolution 625 line
standard which had been standardised across Europe. BBC2 was broadcast in colour
from 1 July 1967, and was joined by BBC 1 and ITV on 15 November 1969. The 405
line VHF transmissions of BBC1 (and ITV) were continued for compatibility with
older television receivers until 1985.

Starting in 1964 a series of pirate radio stations (starting with Radio Caroline) came
on the air, and forced the British government finally to regulate radio services to
permit nationally based advertising-financed services. In response the BBC
reorganised and renamed their radio channels. The Light Programme was split into
Radio 1 offering continuous "Popular" music and Radio 2 more "Easy Listening".[19]
The "Third" programme became Radio 3 offering classical music and cultural
programming. The Home Service became Radio 4 offering news, and non-musical
content such as quiz shows, readings, dramas and plays. As well as the four national
channels, a series of local BBC radio stations were established in 1967, including
Radio London.[20]

In 1974, the BBC's teletext service, Ceefax, was introduced, created initially to
provide subtitling, but developed into a news and information service. In 1978 BBC
staff went on strike just before the Christmas of that year, thus blocking out the
transmission of both channels and amalgamating all four radio stations into one.[21][22]

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.[citation needed]

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 and programme level and noise measurement.[citation needed]

The 2004 Hutton Inquiry and the subsequent Report raised questions about the BBC's
journalistic standards and its impartiality. This led to resignations of senior
management members at the time including the then Director General, Greg Dyke. In
January 2007, the BBC released minutes of the Board meeting which led to Greg
Dyke's resignation.[23]

Unlike the other departments of the BBC, BBC World Service is funded by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, more
commonly known as the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government
department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad.

On 18 October 2007, BBC Director General Mark Thompson announced a

controversial plan to make major cuts and reduce the size of the BBC as an
organisation. The plans included a reduction in posts of 2,500; including 1,800
redundancies, consolidating news operations, reducing programming output by 10%
and selling off the flagship Television Centre building in London.[24] These plans have
been fiercely opposed by unions, who have threatened a series of strikes, however the
BBC have stated that the cuts are essential to move the organisation forward and
concentrate on increasing the quality of programming.

[edit] Governance
The BBC is a corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its
activities being overseen by the BBC Trust (formerly the Board of Governors).[25]
General management of the organisation is in the hands of a Director-General, who is
appointed by the Trust; he is the BBC's Editor-in-Chief and chairs the Executive
Board.[26]

The current Charter[27] came into effect on 1 January 2007 and runs until 31 December
2016. The Royal Charter is reviewed every 10 years.

The 2007 Charter specifies that the mission of the Corporation is to "inform, educate
and entertain". It states that the Corporation exists to serve the public interest and to
promote its public purposes:

• Sustaining citizenship and civil society;

• Promoting education and learning;
• Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
• Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;
• Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;
• Helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications
technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switchover to digital
television.

This Charter also created the largest change in the governance of the Corporation
since its inception. It abolished the sometimes controversial governing body, the
Board of Governors, and replaced it with the BBC Trust and a formalised Executive
Board.

[edit] BBC Trust

Main article: BBC Trust

The BBC Trust was formed on 1 January 2007, replacing the Board of Governors as
the governing body of the Corporation. The Trust sets the strategy for the corporation,
assesses the performance of the BBC Executive Board in delivering the BBC's
services, and appoints the Director-General.

BBC Trustees are appointed by the British monarch on advice of government

ministers.[28] The current members of the Trust are:

• Sir Michael Lyons (Chairman)

 • Richard Ayre
• Diane Coyle
• Anthony Fry
• Alison Hastings
• Dame Patricia Hodgson
• Rotha Johnston
• Elan Closs Stephens
• David Liddiment
• Bill Matthews
• Mehmuda Mian

The post of Vice Chairman is currently vacant

[edit] Executive Board

The Executive Board is responsible for operational management and delivery of

services within a framework set by the BBC Trust, and is headed by the Director-
General, Mark Thompson. The Executive Board consists of both Executive and Non-
Executive directors.[29]

Executive directors:

• Mark Thompson (Chairman of the Executive Board; Director-General; and the

BBC's Editor-in-Chief)
• Mark Byford (Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board; Deputy Director-
General; Director, Journalism Group)
• Jana Bennett OBE (Director, BBC Vision)
• Tim Davie (Director, BBC Audio & Music)
• Erik Huggers (Director, Future Media & Technology)
• Lucy Adams (Director, BBC People)
• Zarin Patel (Chief Financial Officer)
• Caroline Thomson (Chief Operating Officer)
• Peter Salmon (Director, BBC North)

Non-executive directors:

• Marcus Agius (senior non-executive director), Chairman, Barclays

• Robert Webb QC, (also chairman, BBC Worldwide Ltd) former General
Counsel, British Airways
• Dr Mike Lynch OBE, co-founder and Chief Executive, Autonomy
Corporation
• David Robbie, Group Finance Director, Rexam
• Dr Samir Shah OBE, Chief Executive, Juniper Communications
• Val Gooding former Chief Executive of BUPA

[edit] Corporate structure

• Trust Unit
• Director-General's Office
• Content Groups:
 o Journalism (incorporates News, Sport and Global News)
o Vision (incorporates television production and commissioning)
o Audio & Music (incorporates radio and music production and
commissioning)
o Future Media & Technology (incorporates web-based services plus
Research and Development)
• Professional Services:
o Operations (incorporates policy, strategy, legal, property and
distribution)
o Marketing, Communications and Audiences
o Finance
o BBC People (incorporates human resources and training)
• Commercial Groups:
o BBC Worldwide Ltd
o BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd, formerly BBC Resources

[edit] Finance
The BBC has the second largest budget of any UK broadcaster with an operating
expenditure of £4.26 billion in 2009/10[30] compared to £5.9 billion for British Sky
Broadcasting,[31] £1.9 billion for ITV[32] and £214 million in 2007 for GCap Media
(the largest commercial radio broadcaster).[33]

[edit] 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
£145.50 per year per household (as of April 2010). Such a licence is required to
receive broadcast television within the UK, however no licence is required to own a
television used for other means, or for sound only radio sets (though a separate
licence for these was also required for non-TV households until 1971) The cost of a
television licence is set by the government and enforced by the criminal law. A
discount is available for households with only black-and-white television sets. A 50%
discount is also offered to registered blind.[34] The revenue is collected privately and is
paid into the central government Consolidated Fund, a process defined in the
Communications Act 2003. This TV Licensing collection is currently carried out by
Capita, an outside agency. Funds are then allocated by the Department of Culture,
Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Treasury and approved by Parliament via
legislation. Additional revenues are paid by the Department for Work and Pensions to
compensate for subsidised licences for eligible over-75 year olds.

Income from commercial enterprises and from overseas sales of its catalogue of
programmes has substantially increased over recent years,[35] with BBC Worldwide
contributing some £145 million to the BBC's core public service business.

According to the BBC's 2008–2009 Annual Report,[36] its income can be broken
down, as follows:
 • £3,493.8 million in licence fees collected from householders;
• £775.9 million from BBC Commercial Businesses;
• £294.6 million from government grants;
• £41.1 million from other income, such as providing content to overseas
broadcasters and concert ticket sales;

The licence fee has, however, attracted criticism. It has been argued that in an age of
multi stream, multi-channel availability, an obligation to pay a licence fee is no longer
appropriate. The BBC's use of private sector company Capita Group to send letters to
premises not paying the licence fee has been criticised, especially as there have been
cases where such letters have been sent to premises which are up to date with their
payments, or do not require a TV licence.[37] The BBC uses an advertising campaign
to inform customers of the requirement to pay the licence fee. These letters and
adverts have been criticised by Conservative MPs Boris Johnson and Ann
Widdecombe, for having a threatening nature and language used to scare evaders into
paying.[38][39] Audio clips and television broadcasts are used to inform listeners of the
BBC's comprehensive database.[40] There are a number of pressure groups
campaigning on the issue of the licence fee.[41]

[edit] Expenditure

The BBC gave two forms of expenditure statement for the financial year 2005–2006.

The amount of each licence fee spent monthly[42] 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
Nations' and local radio 68p
BBC Online 36p
BBC Jam 14p
Digital radio stations 10p
Interactive TV (BBC Red Button) 8p
Total £10.54

The total broadcasting spend for 2005–2006[43] is given as:

Department Total cost (£million)

Television 1443
Radio 218
BBC Online 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

[edit] Headquarters and regional offices

The headquarters of the BBC at Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London,
England

The headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland at Broadcasting House on Ormeau

Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Main article: List of BBC properties
Further information: Broadcasting House, Broadcasting House (Belfast),
Broadcasting House (Cardiff), BBC Television Centre

Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London, is the official headquarters of the

BBC. It is home to three of the ten BBC national radio networks (of which five are
currently digital only services not carried on conventional 'analogue' radio). They are
BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and BBC 7. On the front of the building are statues of
Prospero and Ariel, characters from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest,
sculpted by Eric Gill.

Renovation of Broadcasting House began in 2002 and is scheduled for completion in

2012. As part of a major reorganisation of BBC property, the entire BBC News
operation is expected to relocate from the News Centre at BBC Television Centre to
the refurbished Broadcasting House to create what is being described as "one of the
world's largest live broadcast centres".[44] Following completion Broadcasting House
will also be home to most of the BBC's national radio stations, 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 an extension[45] designed by Sir Richard
MacCormac.

By far the largest concentration of BBC staff in the UK exists in White City and
Shepherd's Bush in West London, although many of these will move by 2011 to the
purpose-built MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. Well-known buildings in
the White City and Shepherd's Bush area include BBC Television Centre and the
White City complex, which includes the Media Centre, Broadcast Centre and Centre
House. BBC News is currently based at White City, but much of it is due to return to
Broadcasting House, along with the World Service, on completion of the
redevelopment there.

As well as the two main sites in London (Broadcasting House and White City), there
are seven other major BBC production centres in the UK:

• Cardiff (Broadcasting House Cardiff)

• Belfast (Broadcasting House Belfast)
• Glasgow (BBC Pacific Quay)
• Birmingham (The Mailbox)
• Manchester (currently based in Oxford Road, Manchester but moving to
MediaCityUK by 2011)
• Leeds (Quarry Hill)
• Bristol (Broadcasting House Bristol), which is home to the world-famous
BBC Natural History Unit.
• Southampton - Home of the BBC's biggest 'English Region' BBC South

There are also many smaller local and regional studios scattered throughout the UK.

In 2011, the BBC is planning to move several departments including BBC Sport and
BBC Children's, as well as BBC Radio 5 Live north to newly built premises in
Salford Quays, Greater Manchester.[46] This will mark a major decentralisation of the
Corporation's operations from London.

[edit] Services
[edit] Television

Main article: BBC Television

BBC North East & Cumbria, Newcastle

BBC Scotland's and BBC Alba's HQ in Glasgow, Scotland.

MediaCity:UK, Manchester

In the UK, BBC One and BBC Two are the BBC's flagship television channels.
Several digital only stations are also broadcast: BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News,
BBC Parliament, and two children's channels, CBBC and CBeebies. Digital television
is now in widespread use in the UK, with analogue transmission being phased out by
December 2012.[47]

BBC One is a regionalised TV service which provides opt-outs throughout the day for
local news and other local programming. These variations are more pronounced in the
BBC 'Nations', i.e. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, where the presentation is
mostly carried out locally on BBC One and Two. BBC Two variations within
England are currently rare, though most regions still have the ability to 'opt out' of the
main feed, albeit on analogue only. BBC Two was also the first channel to be
transmitted on 625 lines in 1964, then carry a small-scale regular colour service from
1967. BBC One would follow in November 1969.

A new Scottish Gaelic television channel, BBC Alba, was launched in September
2008. It is also the first multi-genre channel to come entirely from Scotland with
almost all of its programmes made in Scotland. The service is currently[when?] only
available via satellite and cable television.

In the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the BBC channels are
available in a number of ways. In these countries digital and cable operators carry a
range of BBC channels these include BBC One, BBC Two and BBC World News,
although viewers in the Republic of Ireland may receive BBC services via 'overspill'
from transmitters in Northern Ireland or Wales, or via 'deflectors' – transmitters in the
Republic which rebroadcast broadcasts from the UK, received off-air, or from digital
satellite.

From 9 June 2006, the BBC began 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.[48] On 3 November 2010, a high-definition
simulcast of BBC One was launched.

Since 1975, the BBC has also provided its TV programmes to the British Forces
Broadcasting Service (BFBS), allowing members of UK military serving abroad to
watch and listen to them on two dedicated TV channels.
In 2008, the BBC began experimenting with live streaming of certain channels in the
UK, and in November 2008, all standard BBC television channels were made
available to watch online.[49]

[edit] Radio

Further information: BBC Radio, BBC Local Radio

The BBC has five major national stations:

• Radio 1 ("the best new music and entertainment")

• Radio 2 (the UK's most listened to radio station, with 12.9 million weekly
listeners)[50]
• Radio 3 (classical and jazz music)
• Radio 4 (current affairs, factual, drama and comedy)
• Radio 5 Live (24 hour news, sports and talk)

In recent years some further national stations have been introduced on digital radio
platforms including 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 Radio 7 (comedy, drama & children's
programming) and BBC Asian Network (British South Asian talk, music and news in
English and in many South Asian languages), a station which had evolved from BBC
Local Radio origins in the 1970s and still is broadcast on Medium Wave frequencies
in some parts of England. In addition the BBC World Service is now also broadcast
nationally in the UK on DAB.

There is also a network of local stations with a mixture of talk, news and music in
England and the Channel Islands as well as national stations (Nations' radio) 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 also provides separate local radio services for the Channel Islands of
Guernsey- BBC Guernsey and Jersey- BBC Radio Jersey, with local TV news
coverage from BBC Channel Islands. These services are provided as a convenience,
since strictly the Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom so the funding
for the Guernsey and Jersey broadcasts comes largely from locally collected licence
fees.

The BBC does not offer separate local services for the Isle of Man, partly because the
island has long been served by the independent commercial radio station Manx Radio.

For a worldwide audience, the BBC produces the BBC World Service funded by the
Foreign Office, which is broadcast worldwide on shortwave radio, and on DAB
Digital Radio in the UK. The World Service is a major source of news and
information programming and can be received in 150 capital cities worldwide, with a
weekly audience estimate of 163 million listeners worldwide. As of 2005, the Service
was broadcasting in 33 languages and dialects (including English), though not all
languages are broadcast in all areas.[51]
In 2005, the BBC announced that it would substantially reduce its radio broadcasting
in Thai language (closed in 2006)[52] and 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.[53]

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, local, and regional 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.[54]

Historically, the BBC was the only (legal) radio broadcaster based in the UK
mainland until 1967, when University Radio York (URY), then under the name Radio
York, was launched as the first (and now oldest) legal independent radio station in the
country. However, the BBC did not enjoy a complete monopoly before this as several
Continental stations (such as Radio Luxembourg) broadcast programmes in English to
Britain since the 1930s and the Isle of Man based Manx Radio began in 1964.

BBC Radio 1 is carried in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and
Sirius Satellite Radio.

The BBC is a patron of The Radio Academy.[55]

[edit] News

Main article: BBC News

BBC News is the largest broadcast news gathering operation in the world,[56][not in citation
given]
providing services to BBC domestic radio as well as television networks such as
the BBC News, BBC Parliament and BBC World News, as well as BBC Red Button,
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.
Ratings figures
suggest that
during major
[57]
crises such as the Weekly reach of all the BBC's services in the UK
7 July 2005
London
bombings or a
royal funeral, the
UK audience
overwhelmingly
turns to the
BBC's coverage
as opposed to its Weekly reach of the BBC's five national analogue radio stations[57]
commercial
rivals.[58] On 7
July 2005, the
day that there
were a series of
coordinated bomb
blasts on
London's public
transport system, Weekly reach of the BBC's domestic television services[57]
the BBC Online
website recorded
an all time
bandwidth peak
of 11 Gb/s at
12:00 on 7 July.
BBC News
received some
1 billion total hits
on the day of the BBC Television Centre at White City, West London.
event (including all images, text and HTML), serving some 5.5 terabytes of data. At
peak times during the day there were 40,000 page requests per second for the BBC
News website. The previous day's announcement of the 2012 Olympics being
awarded to London caused a peak of around 5 Gbit/s. The previous all time high at
BBC Online was caused by the announcement of the Michael Jackson verdict, which
used 7.2 Gbit/s.[59]

[edit] Attitudes toward the BBC in popular culture

Older domestic UK audiences often refer to the BBC as "the Beeb", a nickname
originally dubbed by Peter Sellers in The Goon Show in the 1950s, when he referred
to the "Beeb Beeb Ceeb". It was then borrowed, shortened and popularised by Kenny
Everett.[60] Another nickname, now less commonly used, is "Auntie", said to originate
from the old-fashioned "Auntie knows best" attitude (but possibly a sly reference to
the "aunties" and "uncles" who were presenters of children's programmes in early
days)[61] in the days when John Reith, the BBC's first director general, was in charge.
The two nicknames have also been used together as "Auntie Beeb",[62] and Auntie has
been used in outtake programmes such as Auntie's Bloomers.[63]
[edit] Criticism and controversies
Main articles: BBC controversies and Criticism of the BBC

[edit] Other media venues

[edit] Internet

Main article: BBC Online

The BBC's online presence includes a comprehensive news website and archive. It
was launched as BBC Online, before being renamed BBCi, then bbc.co.uk, before it
was rebranded back as BBC Online. The website uses GeoIP technology and carries
advertisements when viewed outside of the UK.[64] The BBC claims the site to be
"Europe's most popular content-based site"[65] and states that 13.2 million people in
the UK visit the site's more than two million pages each day.[66] According to Alexa's
TrafficRank system, in July 2008 BBC Online was the 27th most popular English
Language website in the world,[67] and the 46th most popular overall.[68]

A new version of the BBC homepage was launched in December 2007, with the new
site enabling the user to customise the BBC's internet services to their own needs.
This, on 28 February 2008, was made permanent.[69]

The website includes a page for every programme on television and radio, and it is
common for viewers and listeners to be told website addresses for the website
sections relating to that programme. The site also allows users to listen to most Radio
output live and for seven days after broadcast using the BBC iPlayer platform, which
launched on 27 July 2007, and initially used peer-to-peer and DRM technology to
deliver both radio and TV content of the last seven days for offline use for up to
30 days, since then video is now streamed directly. Also, through participation in the
Creative Archive Licence group, bbc.co.uk allowed legal downloads of selected
archive material via the internet.[70] As of February 2008 the BBC has also offered
television programmes for download on Apple iTunes under the studio title "BBC
Worldwide".

BBC Jam was a free online service, delivered through broadband and narrowband
connections, providing high-quality interactive resources designed to stimulate
learning at home and at school. Initial content was made available in January 2006
however BBC Jam was suspended on 20 March 2007 due to allegations made to the
European Commission that it was damaging the interests of the commercial sector of
the industry.[71]

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.[72] 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.[73] 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, and 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.[74][75]

On 26 February 2010 The Times claimed that Mark Thompson, Director General of
the BBC, proposed that the BBC's web output should be cut by 50%, with online staff
numbers and budgets reduced by 25% in a bid to scale back BBC operations and
allow commercial rivals more room.[76] On 2 March 2010, the BBC reported that it
will cut its website spending by 25% and close BBC 6 Music and Asian Network.[77]
[78]

January 2011: Online service will cut around 360 jobs and close hundreds of websites
as part of 'a more streamlined' approach inline with cutting budget by 25 percent from
Poundsterlling 137 million to 103 million by 2013/14.[79]

[edit] Interactive television

Main article: BBC Red Button

BBC Red Button is the brand name for the BBC's interactive digital television
services, which are available through Freeview (digital terrestrial), as well as Freesat,
Sky (satellite), and Virgin Media (cable). Unlike Ceefax, BBC Red Button 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 and the 2008 Olympic Games, 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 BBC
Red Button service.

As well as the 24/7 service, BBC Red Button provides viewers with over 100
interactive TV programmes every year, including news and weather.[80]

[edit] 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.[81]

BBC Worldwide also runs a 24-hour news channel, BBC World News and co-runs,
with Virgin Media, the UKTV network of stations in the UK, producers of, amongst
others, G.O.L.D. and Dave. 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.

BBC World News, its journalism arm, has bases or correspondents in more than 200
countries and, as officially surveyed, is available to more than 274 million
households, though also possibly far more individual persons and groups than surveys
can gather, and it is the oldest surviving entity of its kind. The BBC's reach is
significantly more than CNN's estimated 200 million.

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.[82]

BBC Worldwide also maintains the publishing arm of the BBC and it is the third-
largest publisher of consumer magazines in the United Kingdom.[83] BBC Magazines,
formerly known as BBC Publications, publishes the Radio Times (and published the
now-defunct The Listener) as well as 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.

BBC Worldwide also produces several branded channels available on satellite in Asia
and India, including BBC Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge and BBC Entertainment. In
December 2007, a Polish version of BBC Entertainment launched in Poland.

The BBC has traditionally played a major role in producing book and music tie-ins
with its broadcast material. BBC Records produced soundtrack albums, talking books
and material from radio broadcasts of music.

Between 2004 and 2006, BBC Worldwide owned the independent magazine publisher
Origin Publishing.[84]

BBC Worldwide also licences and directly sells DVD and audio recordings of popular
programmes to the public, most notably Doctor Who (including books and
merchandise), and archive classical music recordings, initially as BBC Radio Classics
and then BBC Legends.

BBC Worldwide also own the biggest travel guidebook and digital media publisher in
the world, Lonely Planet.

[edit] Music

The BBC runs orchestras and choirs, including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC
Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Television Orchestra (1936–
1939), the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
BBC Big Band, the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Chorus. Also many famous
bands have played at the BBC, such as The Beatles (The Beatles Live at the BBC is
one of their many albums). The BBC is also responsible for the United Kingdom
coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, a show with which the broadcaster has been
associated for over 50 years.
[edit] Miscellaneous

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

In the 1980s, the BBC developed several PCs, most notably the BBC Micro.

[edit] Unions
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, staff are not
automatically covered by a union, and is paid for by staff members and not by the
BBC.

[edit] Cultural significance

Until the development, popularisation, and domination of television, radio was the
broadcast medium upon which people in the United Kingdom relied. It "reached into
every home in the land, and simultaneously united the nation, an important factor
during the Second World War".[85] The BBC introduced the world's first "high-
definition" 405-line television service in 1936, and apart from suspending service
throughout World War II until 1946, was the only television broadcaster in the UK
until 1955. "The BBC's monopoly was broken in 1955, with the introduction of
Independent Television (ITV)",[86] This heralded the transformation of television into
a popular and dominant medium. Nevertheless, "throughout the 1950s radio still
remained the dominant source of broadcast comedy".[86] Further, the BBC was the
only legal radio broadcaster until 1968 (when URY obtained their first licence).[87]

Even after the advent of commercial television and radio, the BBC has remained one
of the main elements in British popular culture through its obligation to produce TV
and radio programmes for mass audiences.[citation needed] However, the arrival of BBC2
allowed the BBC also to make programmes for minority interests in drama,
documentaries, current affairs, entertainment and sport. Examples are cited such as I,
Claudius, Civilisation, Tonight, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Doctor Who and Pot
Black, but other examples can be given in each of these fields as shown by the BBC's
entries in the British Film Institute's 2000 list of the 100 Greatest British Television
Programmes.[88]

The export of BBC programmes, the BBC World Service and BBC World have meant
that BBC productions have also been experienced worldwide. The influence of BBC
as a broadcaster of world news is such that in India, someone notorious for spreading
news, gossips and personal secrets is often called 'BBC'.[citation needed]

The term BBC English (Received Pronunciation) refers to the former use of Standard
English with this accent. However, the organisation now makes more use of regional
accents in order to reflect the diversity of the UK, though clarity and fluency are still
expected of presenters.[89] From its 'starchy' beginnings, the BBC has also become
more inclusive, and now attempts to accommodate the interests of all strata of society
and all minorities, because they all pay the licence fee.[90]
Competition from Independent Television, Channel 4, Sky and other broadcast
television stations, has lessened the BBC's influence, but such public broadcasting
remains a major influence on British popular culture.[91]