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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC - affectionately known as the "beeb" or "Auntie") was once the only television and radio provider in the United Kingdom. Prior to 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 cable television, satellite broadcasting and more recently digital television. Today the BBC broadcasts in virtually every medium including digital satellite, digital terrestrial and the Internet. It is still generally regarded by viewers and listeners as providing news, entertainment and other broadcast services of the highest quality available anywhere in the world.

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 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act) was responsible for the issuing of broadcasting licences and in 1919 it stopped issuing further licences because of the large number of complaints of interference to military communications received 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 brodcasting 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). The autonomous nature of the board of governors gives it an independence from direct government control. The BBC has taken advantage of its independence to criticise government policy from time to time. However the BBC does not have any constitutional protection for such criticism and in the past it has suffered as a result.

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 Radio licence was eventually abolished in 1971 but a licence is still required for televison reception.

Today each household (with exemptions for the elderly and others) or business in the UK with a television has to buy an annual television licence. The license fees are set by the government but collected by the Post Office and given to the BBC. They 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 via 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 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.

Radio

Radio was the main output of the BBC prior to the invention of television, and is still seen in the title of the BBC's listings magazine, Radio Times. Radio still makes up a large part of the output. The BBC runs regional radio stations throughout the UK, e.g. Radio Wales, Radio Devon. These offer a more "serious" alternative to the large number of commercial local radio stations. Regional variations also occur within the BBC1 and BBC2 television programme schedules. Some BBC radio channels are available over the Internet. The BBC has recently experimented with streaming audio over the Internet using the open source Ogg Vorbis technology, and in 2002 launched several new digital-only stations. The most famous radio programme is undoubtably the soap The Archers. It is also famous for its comedy output-in particular The Goons.

The BBC World Service is a major source of news and information programming around the world.

Television

What is now known as BBC1 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 some 25,000 homes before the outbreak of the Second World War caused the service to be suspended. The broadcasts would have provided an ideal radio beacon for German bombers homing in on London. In 1946 TV transmissions resumed from Alexandra Palace.

BBC2 was the third television station (ITV was the second) for the UK; its remit is to provide more niche programming. Unlike its contemporaries, BBC2 does not have the usual soap opera or standard news programming. What BBC2 is supposed to have is a breadth of programming: eclectic, fun and diverse. Although if anything with high audience viewing figures turns up on BBC2 it is often 'stolen' by BBC1.

The BBC was also the first company to introduce a teletext service, the Ceefax service starting in 1974.

In places like Northern Ireland, rather than try to impose British programs on viewers (although some of the shows that are British are very popular, see The Good Life, One Foot in the Grave, Harry Enfield and Chums and so on) the BBC has created other programs, like the Political fueled Give My Head Peace and the Chat/Comedy show Paddy Kielty: Almost Live, which are among the most popular shows, it also imported such shows as The Simpsons. So, the BBC has always catered for everyone’s needs.

See List of BBC television programming.


BBCi

Since the introduction of digital television and the explosion in web use, new channels and online content have been developed by the BBC. The BBC's web service, called BBCi, includes a comprehensive news website and archive. Many of the BBC's television and radio stations can be seen and heard there, also. The BBC had also developed many digital television features such as interactive sports and news coverage and an enhanced text service. All of the BBC's 'interactive' content comes under the banner of BBCi, or BBC Interactive.

According to Alexa, the BBC's main website is the 37th most popular website in the world.

The BBC is known to Americans through the BBC America cable station and Lionheart TV which rerun BBC programmes (but call them programs). In addition, BBC television news appears nightly on many Public Broadcasting System stations.

List of Stations

Television

  • United Kingdom, digital only
    • BBC3, formerly known as BBC Choice
    • BBC4, formerly known as BBC Knowledge
    • BBC Parliament (terrestrial digital currently broadcasts only a quarter-sized screen due to capacity limitations)
    • BBC News 24
    • CBBC Channel (Children’s digital channel aimed towards children over 8yrs)
    • CBeebies (Children’s digital channel aimed towards children under 8yrs)

Radio

  • United Kingdom
    • BBC Radio 1 (Contemporary popular music)
    • BBC Radio 2 (music for a more mature audience; and comedy), originally known as the Light Programme.
    • BBC Radio 3 (Jazz, classical and non-western music and study in musical topics), originally the Third Programme.
    • BBC Radio 4 (Non-musical entertainment such as drama, comedy, news programmes and factual programmes), originally the Home Service. Radio 4 has both FM and longwave frequencies and sometimes broadcasts different programmes on the two bands
    • BBC Radio 5 Live (News and sports analysis and commentary)
Historical note: The first two radio services to broadcast were the Home Service and the World Service. These were followed by the Light Programme and the Third Programme. A contemporary music station was launched in 1967 in response to pirate radio stations, and the present numbered names were adopted. Radio 5 started to broadcast in 1990.
  • United Kingdom, regional
    • Radio Scotland
    • Radio nan Gaidheal (in Scottish Gaelic)
    • Radio Wales
    • Radio Cymru (in Welsh)
    • Radio Ulster
    • Radio Foyle
  • United Kingdom, local
    • East
      • Radio Norfolk
      • Radio Suffolk
      • BBC Essex
      • Three Counties Radio
      • Radio Northampton
      • Radio Cambridgeshire
    • London
      • BBC London 94.9 (Once known as GLR (Greater London Radio))
    • South East
      • Radio Kent
      • Southern Counties Radio
    • South
      • Radio Oxford
      • Radio Berkshire
      • Radio Solent
    • South West
      • Radio Devon
      • Radio Cornwall
      • Radio Guernsey
      • Radio Jersey
    • West
      • Radio Bristol
      • Wiltshire Sound
      • Radio Gloucestershire
    • West Midlands
      • Hereford & Worcester
      • WM (Coventry & Warks)
      • WM
      • Radio Shropshire
      • Radio Stoke
    • North West
      • GMR
      • Radio Merseyside
      • Radio Lancashire
    • North East & Cumbria
      • Radio Cumbria
      • Radio Newcastle
      • Radio Cleveland
    • North
      • Radio York
      • Radio Leeds
      • Radio Sheffield
      • Radio Humberside
    • East Midlands
      • Radio Lincolnshire
      • Radio Derby
      • Radio Nottingham
      • Radio Leicester

Misc

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